Well, to be fair, recycling is a far more mature industry these days than it was in the past. Including for electronic devices. At least in our province (BC, Canada), every community has recycling depots that accept electronics. In addition to that, Apple has evolved their own recycling programs, include introducing Liam.
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California to Introduce 'Right to Repair' Bill Requiring Smartphone Manufacturers to Offer Repair Info and Parts
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Well, to be fair, recycling is a far more mature industry these days than it was in the past. Including for electronic devices. At least in our province (BC, Canada), every community has recycling depots that accept electronics. In addition to that, Apple has evolved their own recycling programs, include introducing Liam.
Not true, some items are hard to repair and third party shops do damages and use low quality parts. iPhones and Macs last a lot, I think everyone should go the official way, until obsolete, then if you still want to repair the machine a third party shops it the only choice. I work as tech support and repair, I have many costumers which went to unofficial repair center, damaged their phones and then blame Apple. users are just too stupid.
Ugh, what a horrible idea. Hamstring companies abilities to engineer products that the vast majority of people don’t have even the slightest interest in tinkering with just to appease the few. This is not an area where regulation should be used. This is an area where the market should be. If there is demand for repairable smartphones then some company should/would market them.
Liam was another PR stunt. It never worked and will never work in volume.
So many people missing the point here.
The right to repair is not designed to specifically enable individuals to attempt amateur repairs, it is designed to create a competitive repair economy where skilled operators can 'officially' repair devices. In any such scenario, of course the repairer will be liable for the quality of the repair - just like your mechanic is responsible for the quality of the repair to your car.
Yes, today 3rd party repairers use inferior parts and methods, simply because they do not have access to Apple's supply chain to get official parts - this law would change that.
It will create a better repair market where competition drives benefit for the consumer. There will still be 3rd parties who offer repairs with unofficial or lower quality parts - at a discounted price, but this is the consumer choice.
When I recently smashed the screen of my iPad Air 2 my options were only:
So I went with the $50 option and you know what, I'm perfectly happy with it. However in the future I hope there might be a 3rd option:
For some people this will be the right price vs. risk point.
Consumer choice and market competition is only a good thing and Apple's opposition to it is purely selfish revenue and profit driven.
The right to repair is not designed to specifically enable individuals to attempt amateur repairs, it is designed to create a competitive repair economy where skilled operators can 'officially' repair devices. In any such scenario, of course the repairer will be liable for the quality of the repair - just like your mechanic is responsible for the quality of the repair to your car.
Yes, today 3rd party repairers use inferior parts and methods, simply because they do not have access to Apple's supply chain to get official parts - this law would change that.
It will create a better repair market where competition drives benefit for the consumer. There will still be 3rd parties who offer repairs with unofficial or lower quality parts - at a discounted price, but this is the consumer choice.
When I recently smashed the screen of my iPad Air 2 my options were only:
- Official Apple Repair with Original Parts: $299
- 3rd Party repair with 3rd Party Parts: $50
So I went with the $50 option and you know what, I'm perfectly happy with it. However in the future I hope there might be a 3rd option:
- 3rd Party repair with Original Parts: maybe $150
For some people this will be the right price vs. risk point.
Consumer choice and market competition is only a good thing and Apple's opposition to it is purely selfish revenue and profit driven.
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It does not take a genius to work out Apple are ripping people off for repairs. If a 3rd-party can replace and repair an iPad Air 2 screen for $50, but Apple charge $299 - that is 6-times the price.
OK OK, let's say that the official replacement Apple part is 100% more expensive than the 3rd-party part at maybe $100 (which is unlikely given the size and scale economy of Apple's supply chain) that still means Apple is charging close to $200 for just the labor and processing of the repair. That is clearly excessive by any measure.
OK OK, let's say that the official replacement Apple part is 100% more expensive than the 3rd-party part at maybe $100 (which is unlikely given the size and scale economy of Apple's supply chain) that still means Apple is charging close to $200 for just the labor and processing of the repair. That is clearly excessive by any measure.
Unless you are an Apple fan then this will be the end of the world.
Bit in the real world, this is for repair businesses to be able to make repairs, not for the untrained person on the street.
It would be a bad age if the only place you could repair your car was at a dealership.
For most issues, an Apple Authorised Service Provider is only authorised to take your iPhone, box it up, and send it to Apple for repair. This includes screen replacements. On average, an Apple customer will have to wait 5-7 business days (in some regions) for an iPhone to be repaired and returned. Apple Stores have stock of screens and replacement devices to do it while you wait (provided you booked an appointment), but Apple won't supply those same components even to their authorised service centers.
However while an AASP isn't allowed to replace a screen in-house, they are allowed to replace a battery. Perhaps the most risky and dangerous (if improperly executed) repair can be performed by even a basic level technician with two weeks of online training, but a screen replacement is a no-go - only the specialists in the repair center can do that.
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No one will take a phone that is still under warranty to a repair shop. So this is unlikely to be an issue.
The word you are struggling for is 'improvement', not 'slippery slope'.
Apple doesn't repair anything. They replace.
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With AirPods it is understandable, but for example with Macs not so much. It is artificially hard to repair Macs.
Indeed - because they have decided it is overall more profitable to not engineer devices to be repairable and instead charge consumers huge fees for 'repair'. This is both bad for the consumer and bad for the environment, only Apple benefits from this arrangement (and by the way not just Apple - you can insert any mobile phone manufacturer in here).
This is precisely an area where regulation is a positive thing to drive corporate behavior.
But cars are kind of sold as a product of separate parts in the first place. For example, if you buy a brand new car and it stops working in the first few months you cant just get your money back on the whole thing. They will fix whatever is wrong (gearbox, clutch etc..).
Electronic devices nowadays are so small lost of their components are on one chip or so fused together you might as well just replace the whole thing. Even if you can get the components for some of the parts the ability to install them and test them is kind of hard as well. I'm not even sure Apple repair stuff that much anyway, sometimes they just give you a whole new thing because its not worth it.
I think the "old days" are gone in device manufacturing because they just not designed in the "old way" anymore. These machines are all very compact and integrated. And if Apple aren't even repairing stuff by replacing components how can they supply components to third parties?
No one is asking to release blueprints.
However, releasing repair manuals actually is very common in the auto industry, aviation and even professional IT. Look up "owners manual" or "repair manual" for any Dell Device. You will be surprised.
The problem here is Apple isn't "Pro" at all. That has been long ago (the very old Mac Pro was). Apple is only Premium, but not Pro. A major difference.
B2T: There's already enough shops that will repair Apple devices. With a OEM manual they could at least do it according to "approved" instructions. If Apple sold batteries you could at least replace your battery with a genuine one. Currently it's almost always a chinese knock off if you DIY. So, having genuine spare parts available would increase safety.
If it was an out of warranty repair, like for example if they cracked the screen.
People might want to fix it themselves but obviously this will void the warranty for any future problems.
Not in USA, so doesn't affect me directly, but I would hope it give the right to the following:
Part placement diagram (not necessarily schematics, which I can fully understand are company confidential)
Bill of Materials (at least with Apple P/N)
Access to the Apple parts for a reasonable price
Apple is obviously not paying 50 USD for a battery or 200 USD for a display assembly - and neither should the customer be forced to pay such prices for access to parts out of warranty.
Any DIY fixes are of course no longer covered by warranty, but I would like to be able to fix my iPhone with a new screen for 50USD or so when I drop it, without needing to pay a 3rd party (apple has no stores in my country), wait 3 weeks and pay 300 USD...
NB: an iPhone SE battery change here in Norway, if performed by the auth. 3rd party costs 130 USD with tax after Apple lowered the prices in their "goodwill" gesture to cover-up their poor quality batteries. Before that it was 180USD - for a battery change! Something that should cost 20USD in parts + my labor.
Part placement diagram (not necessarily schematics, which I can fully understand are company confidential)
Bill of Materials (at least with Apple P/N)
Access to the Apple parts for a reasonable price
Apple is obviously not paying 50 USD for a battery or 200 USD for a display assembly - and neither should the customer be forced to pay such prices for access to parts out of warranty.
Any DIY fixes are of course no longer covered by warranty, but I would like to be able to fix my iPhone with a new screen for 50USD or so when I drop it, without needing to pay a 3rd party (apple has no stores in my country), wait 3 weeks and pay 300 USD...
NB: an iPhone SE battery change here in Norway, if performed by the auth. 3rd party costs 130 USD with tax after Apple lowered the prices in their "goodwill" gesture to cover-up their poor quality batteries. Before that it was 180USD - for a battery change! Something that should cost 20USD in parts + my labor.
Apple indeed has soo much interest in their products to be repair-ineffective - if not irrepairable.
They are gladly fostering a throw-away culture. Look at their mounting practices (using glue and breakable parts on purpose). As markets have become saturated they live by shorter product life-cycles. It is their way to bring down those - as they've become their own hardest competitor - without being accused of planned obsolescense.
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Stupid. Now we're going to have every website full of idiots that have no business trying to repair anything complaining that the manufacturer's phone is junk because they're morons and have no idea what they're doing.
Really? Well in that case you can take your business elsewhere, no? As fas as i know it has worked like that for thousands of years.
I'll be sure to watch a happy Mr Rossmann later 
One of those cases where I certainly don't side with Apple. I can understand their reasoning and the supposed "protecting people from themselves" thing but it should be the individual's choice to make. Hope this sends a precedent to other countries.
One of those cases where I certainly don't side with Apple. I can understand their reasoning and the supposed "protecting people from themselves" thing but it should be the individual's choice to make. Hope this sends a precedent to other countries.
Hopefully it will return some common sense to their product design. While I love my new Macbook Pro, the fact you can't replace simple components without basically destroying the computer is wasteful and unnecessary.