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Apple Taking Heat for Switching to Custom Screws on iPhone 4 and Portables

macus3r said:
This prevents a lot of illegal/unauthorized repairs from happening. It also ensures users are going to the retail stores or authorized repair centers for repair.

For each and every iPhone manufactured, i'm sure apple wants to keep a running record of all and any repairs... illegal repairs do not add to a manufactured unit's service history.

apple wants to build a flawless device. when other people are servicing the product w/o providing the manufacturer a diagnosis and repair history, apple loses this vital information. This information is extremely valuable for any kind of manufacturer.
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Illegal repairs...what the hell is an illegal repair.
If I buy something I can do what the hell I want with it.
It's one thing to have the Big brother looking over my shoulder with software but hardware...give me a break.
And certainly however I chose to repair it could not be construed as illegal.
 
Evil is to demand 9.99$ for 2 cheap'o'screwdriver and screws. Even Apple would not want more than 6,66$ for it.

Its funny to get heat for a custom screw. Next they will get heat for the shape of the Apple logo. One sweet girl needed a lot of attention here.
 
If Apple is going to have to pay to repair devices,

it only makes sense that they try to keep the "numb-nuts" out of the case! If you are a hardcore hobbyist, you will find a way to break in, but for John-Q-Public, this creates an adequate barrier that they might think twice and bring the device into an authorized repair shop before causing more damage.

Apple is trying to improve the customer service experience (i.e. recent announcement to drop restocking fees) but all this product handling takes an employee's time, and eventually that time has to be paid for in product pricing. Reducing the opportunity for butter-finger customers from further making a bad situation worse makes perfectly good business sense to me!

I guess if I want to practice neuorsurgery on my children, there is nothing physically stopping me, but it might not be a smart idea if I am not a surgeon.

I apologize for my griping but I get tired of whiny customers who think their prerogatives always take priority over everyone else. Hobbyists, have your fun...
 
Interesting

This is 100% accurate. I got an ip4 around September and the screws were the typical Phillips screws they've always used. I had to have that one replaced about 2 weeks ago. This new one has the pentalobe head screws on it. Never noticed it until right now. Only Apple would do this..
 
zO.M.G. thats the last straw. ive had it with apple drming everything and im goin back tu windows. fu apple:mad:
 
Apple can do whatever they want with "Their" phones

im sorry, but that video pissed me off. its not a "right" to be able to take apart your iphone once you've paid for it. its a privilage to even have the phone "not a right" so if you dont like what apples done, DONT BUY IT. and if your like me and dont care, then go ahead and buy it.
 
nikhsub1 said:
Waiting for people to start defending this move. I mean, it's one thing to ship ALL phones with these screws but quite another to replace regular screws with these in customers phones. I would be pissed.
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The iPhone you get back is not your original iPhone. It is a refurbished unit. So it isn't surprising these refurbished units have the new screws.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

macus3r said:
This prevents a lot of illegal/unauthorized repairs from happening. It also ensures users are going to the retail stores or authorized repair centers for repair.

For each and every iPhone manufactured, i'm sure apple wants to keep a running record of all and any repairs... illegal repairs do not add to a manufactured unit's service history.

apple wants to build a flawless device. when other people are servicing the product w/o providing the manufacturer a diagnosis and repair history, apple loses this vital information. This information is extremely valuable for any kind of manufacturer.
Click to expand...

This is nonsense, how can a repair be illegal? If I replace a battery myself you really don't believe that is illegal do you?

I don't know Apples motivation here but in field retrofits can be very frustrating. As to new hardware the motivation might be better automated assembly. Or it could be to screw customers, I don't know. All I know is it isn't illegal to service your own hardware or to have somebody do it for you.

As to iFixIt if they don't like the current screwdrivers have a decent one made.
 
Is this bad?

Seriously? Who needs to open their iPhone? Oh I guess some people want to slap another gig of RAM in there huh? Nope.. not possible. There is no point. This is not a bad thing at all. Now if this really is on computers then that is BS, but I am not sure of that.
 
macus3r said:
This prevents a lot of illegal/unauthorized repairs from happening. It also ensures users are going to the retail stores or authorized repair centers for repair.
Click to expand...

It is not illegal to repair or dismantle anything you OWN. Period. And you don't need AUTHORIZATION from Apple or any manufacturer to open said product. Period. There are billions of examples of people doing their own car repairs, tv repairs, computer repairs, appliance repairs, etc. Some repairs need a high level of expertise, some do not. I easily change my oil and air filter in my car but I certainly do not muck around with all the belts. And there are bazillions of people who swap out/change/upgrade their own ram, hard drives, dvd burners, video cards, etc. on personal computers.


For each and every iPhone manufactured, i'm sure apple wants to keep a running record of all and any repairs... illegal repairs do not add to a manufactured unit's service history.
Click to expand...

Fine. Sure. Apple would love to have a record of all repairs...it does help Apple identify problems.


apple wants to build a flawless device. when other people are servicing the product w/o providing the manufacturer a diagnosis and repair history, apple loses this vital information. This information is extremely valuable for any kind of manufacturer.
Click to expand...

You've been drinking too much Koolaid. Apple doesn't need 100% of all problems reported. All it needs is a spike in people complaining and service centers sending back defective parts to realize there is a problem. Again, you have been drinking waaaaaay too much Koolaid regarding Repair centers and manufacturers. :)

Apple simply wants to stop people from UPGRADING or ENHANCING the iPhone (such as a battery or maybe a SIM card or maybe a larger memory chip)...not repair it. Other than a battery replacement, I doubt there is any other "repair" that even a highly skilled tech would want to do on the iPhone. If it's truly broken, bring it back and let the experts fix it (maybe even under warranty) and get a WARRANTY ON THE REPAIR. Or buy a new phone.

I agree that Apple has the right to build their products the way they want. But this is really crossing the line by choosing a configuration that is non-standard and unavailable to the general public. Torx screws are more than adequate for the iPhone.
 
Small White Car said:
I dunno. I guess I see their point but I have a really really hard time caring.

I mean, someone will start selling this screwdriver next month on the internet, right? So the problem is we have to wait a month?

It's a problem, I guess, but it ranks slightly below "I need to remember to check my car tires for air pressure soon."

So, like, not something I'm gonna worry about for very long.
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Imagine if only your mechanic could change a tire because some sort of proprietary lugnut was used. Imagine if you actually went out to find a wrench socket that would fit that lugnut so you could do your own work, but the next time you took your car in they changed out the lugnuts to a different type that didn't work with your new lugnut socket.

I bet you'd care at that point.
 
nikhsub1 said:
Waiting for people to start defending this move. I mean, it's one thing to ship ALL phones with these screws but quite another to replace regular screws with these in customers phones. I would be pissed.
Click to expand...

Sure... I'll defend it. 1st, Apple takes pride in the quality of their devices. By making this difficult for the average person, it's going to keep them from opening up their device and messing other things up. Plus, if the driver is hard to get, you have a less chance of having someone that is not a Authorized Apple repair shop working on your devices. I think it's quality control driving this and to be honest, even the Apple stores don't open the phones. They replace if you have an issue.

With that said, iDevices I see no issue. Laptops, that's another story. I think they should make it user accessible for simple upgrades like RAM and drives.
 
I wouldn't have an issue, if Apple wasn't replacing screws with other screws. They're swapping parts that don't need to be swapped, and altering the original specs of the unit. Isn't that illegal or something?

EDIT: The car industry got into hot water because they used the same tactics.
 
Thunderhawks said:
Shame on them?

What business is it of anybody to tell Apple what to do?

They don't want people to open their stuff.

For the few technically inclined this is not a problem, (we'll get in there).

For the rest of all the users it's a non issue.
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Their stuff? Once I buy it, it is no longer theirs, it is mine and I can do whatever I please with it.
 
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