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I can understand wanting to ensure it's done correctly, but I'm sure a lot of this is greed and not wanting the competition. I'm dating myself, but this reminds me of the Mac clones back in the 1990's. Apple licensed Mac OS 7(?) to other companies like Motorola, Daystar and others, and some were even faster than Apple's own computers. So Apple ended that.
I remember those days, clones absolutely killed Apple machines when it came to price performance ratio.
 
They must have had some technological reason for adding that microcontroller in the first place surely?

I suspect the use of it to kill Face ID was an added bonus for them.

Quite bizarre behaviour though.
 
But, but! My security is compromised now! Macrumors members said so! Bring it back! 😂

Did not expect that, good move. Wonder if the ********* caused this or the global iPhone market share dropping.
Apple could tell MacRumors members to jump off of a bridge and their response would be: “How high? Should I be wearing my Apple Watch when I jump? Should I activate an accelerometer app?”
 
You all talk on here as if you know that you are going to break them at some point.Just look after your iPhones.I’ve never broken an iPhone screen in 11 years of owning them 🤷‍♂️
 
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The possible reasons why Apple walked this back are both numerous and now moot.

I don't care WHY they walked it back, or WHY it was there in the first place.

I'm just glad they did.

Complaints and reports apparently do work in this, strange new Apple with fat laptops and old ports and expandable towers and smoking fast chips.
 
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I can understand wanting to ensure it's done correctly, but I'm sure a lot of this is greed and not wanting the competition. I'm dating myself, but this reminds me of the Mac clones back in the 1990's. Apple licensed Mac OS 7(?) to other companies like Motorola, Daystar and others, and some were even faster than Apple's own computers. So Apple ended that.

You can see it as greed, but I see it as Apple trying to build a reputation for the Mac experience. We all know how painful Windows is across a myriad of PC vendors. It's a different experience with each vendor, and simplicity is not one of its attributes. Apple has every right to control that experience, and if licensees are not delivering that simple, clean, familiar experience, why should Apple continue down that path?
 
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Happens every other year.

Throttling on iPhone 6.
Error 53 on iPhone 6s.
True Tone on iPhone 8.

Now we've got battery and Face ID that doesn't work even with genuine OEM parts.

Most of the time, Apple walks back these policies. Sooner or later, they'll decide otherwise.
 
This also has to be aimed at markets outside the US

Maybe americans don't understand, but repair prices out of warranty with Apple authorized repair shops outside the US are plain extortion. It doesn't make any sense to pay 3/4ths of the price of a new model just to replace a battery or screen.

Something tells me Apple keeps its repair prices low in the US to avoid legislation
 
I'm glad to see that Apple has reacted the massive, worldwide public backlash regarding the iPhone fix. It's too bad it takes this major stress & heartburn to get what's right & correct for the consumer to occur. Come on, Apple and put an end to this modus operandi for the company. What would Steve say? How about Tim? How about the board?
 
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I get that nobody wants this restriction, but the reasoning should be obvious: Without it, a man in the middle attack is possible between Face ID sensor and the rest of the phone.

Ultimately, that's going to need some sort of fix. Hopefully not something this restrictive, but still: the user needs to be able to trust that their hardware hasn't been changed under them. Backing down on this renders the problem unsolved.
 
The only reason Apple is now doing it is because it got caught!
Was it a good decision to put in this protection? No!
But are they doing the "right" thing? Yes.
But it shouldn't have done it in the first place as it got called out on it and now Apple's PR is kicking in so Apple has no other choice but backtrack and allow the fix.
 
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Seems like Apple are backtracking on a lot of things lately, good news though that common sense has prevailed in this case ?
Maybe it's a sign that Apple is starting to listen to customers. But it's too early to know for sure. Let's see if they keep it up for the next few years, and then we'll know.

They must have had some technological reason for adding that microcontroller in the first place surely?

I suspect the use of it to kill Face ID was an added bonus for them.
Well, it sort of makes sense to have an authentication chip to detect counterfeit security devices (e.g. the touch sensor for Touch ID, or the camera for Face ID). Counterfeit devices can compromise security - either because they aren't as good or they may have hacked firmware.

And counterfeit other devices (e.g. screens, batteries) may introduce all kinds of problems. So it makes sense to try and detect them, although I would much rather the phone just alert you to their presence and maybe disable Apple-proprietary features (e.g. battery monitoring or TrueTone) that may not work on third-party parts. Going to the next step and disabling unrelated parts (e.g. FaceID for a screen, even though the FaceID hardware isn't part of the screen) is just obnoxious.

But Apple didn't want to just stop at detecting third-party parts. They decided to pair individual parts so even a genuine Apple part is treated as counterfeit if not paired using proprietary installation software. The only reason I can see for this is to try and eliminate the ability for recyclers to sell working parts scavenged from dead phones. I can't think of any other logical reason, and it's a direct slap in the face of independent repair shops worldwide.
 
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