France Investigating Apple Over Alleged 'Planned Obsolescence' Arising From Serialized Repair Parts

[JPack]

There is firmware in the MagSafe cable. I just recently did an update. So it may be technically possible. I also think the NBC News article was sprinkled with a lot of sensationalism. The UEFI boot BIOS was thought to be very secure. Yet is has been compromised on some MSI motherboards.

No, it isn't technically possible.

MagSafe does not transmit data. It has no ability to do so. It relies on NFC.

 

[klasma]

"Apple's self-service repair program is bad for the environment given that Apple ships large and heavy tools to customers."

Oh please, gimme a break.

They didn’t actually say that. See here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ts.2389596/page-2?post=32166005#post-32166005

 

[JPack]

Macrumor’s wording here is a bit of a misrepresentation. HOP is critiquing that the self-service repair kit is very expensive and inconveniently heavy (79 lbs in total), which discourages its use. This is a fair criticism. They don’t tie it directly to a negative environmental impact.

Not to mention you have to put down a $1,200 deposit. Assuming everyone has that kind of money, you're still screwed if you or UPS loses a part of the toolkit.

Nobody is going to take a $1,200 gamble on DIY to replace a battery themselves using Apple's Self Repair.

 

[spazzcat]

I only have one phone and it is old enough that I'd feel honored if China wanted to part it out.

They want the old phones the most because they don't have S/N protection...

 

[contacos]

So you are ok with your phones being stolen and shipped to China to be parted out?

They do it anyway. The phone ends up in Africa within 48 hours. I was actually impressed when a friends stolen iPhone (in Paris) showed up in Africa the next day (according to find my)

 

[spazzcat]

The issue at hand is not "planned obsolescence ", which is defined as the practice of designing products to break quickly or become obsolete in the short to mid-term. Considering how long most Apple products last and are supported, the company arguably does the exact opposite.

This is what drives me nuts, everything Apple does is planned obsolescence even though their phones are supported by Apple for the longest and last years.

 

[WilliApple]

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

Apple is getting busted...

Maybe they will have to release a software update to allow any third party part. Imagine if they need to do it on every single phone they did this with...

 

[spazzcat]

So you are okay locking the repair into "Apple only" supplied new parts.

Apple's definition of "unauthorized".

I would never take my phone to anyone but Apple to repair.

 

[klasma]

Brother printers are almost as bad.

I have a Brother Color laser. The fusing drum failed when it developed a tear. The printer was under warranty. Before Brother would send the part and authorize the repair it was necessary for me to provide the serial number of the toner cartridge and the imaging roller. Brother needed to make certain that only Brother parts were used before they would authorize any repair under warranty.

Using third party toner cartridges or imaging rollers voids any warranty and Brother will not provide parts to repair the printer.

That makes sense to me for warranty repairs. But after the warranty period, or if you don’t care about voiding the warranty, you should be able to source components from third parties and/or from other devices at your own discretion.

 

[spazzcat]

Reminds me of the printer industry. More and more DRM with every generation of hardware. They asked consumers to ship empty cartridges back, just to destroy them and reduce the availability of third-party and re-manufactured parts. Current HP printers now need a constant Internet connection to accept a print job.

This isn't the same. This example would be valid if I could only use Apple power to change my phone.

 

[klasma]

No, it isn't technically possible.

MagSafe does not transmit data. It has no ability to do so. It relies on NFC.

NFC transmits data, though.

 

[raythompsontn]

MagSafe does not transmit data. It has no ability to do so. It relies on NFC.

Then how does the Mac update firmware in the cable without transmitting data? NFC transmits and receives data. Can that be compromised? The MagSafe plugs into USB-C. USB-C is used to transfer data. Can that be compromised? Who knows. A lot of “secure” items have been compromised.

 

[Analog Kid]

"a dire omen" said iFixit's Elizabeth Chamberlain.

Ugh. iFixit spouting off with hyperbole again...

These EU regulations have become so anti-consumer, they've lost their moral high ground.

 

[Analog Kid]

MagSafe does not transmit data. It has no ability to do so. It relies on NFC.

Reminder: the C in NFC stands for "communication".

 

[robbietop]

It's all about the option to do as you wish. You don't have to repair it yourself, but you could be empowered to do it yourself.

Yeah, let me get right on destroying the device because I don't know what I am doing and some step by step video is not gonna help me learn how to do it myself. If that were true, everyone would be learning to cook, build a house, etc. All over YouTube are step by step instructional videos.

Have fun doing it yourself. I and the rest of us are just gonna pay an experienced professional

 

[VulchR]

The EU has had their guns drawn at Apple for too long! Protectionism & nationalism disguised as consumer advocacy. All American companies take note!

Actually, although I support free trade this is beginning to look like Europens taking aim at a US company. Perhaps Apple should ask the US government for retaliatory measures like tariffs.

 

[Xavier]

So you are ok with your phones being stolen and shipped to China to be parted out?

This literally happened to my partners phone when it stolen from her pocket. It showed up on Find My Device about a week later in China.

 

[TheGenerous]

I would never take my phone to anyone but Apple to repair.

I agree.

Just like people used to mod consoles by soldering chips in order to play pirated games, I can imagine third-party repair shops (particularly in the developing world) installing tiny chips to steal your bank accounts or other sensitive data

 

[MauiPa]

Who says idiots are in governmen? This is proof right here

 

[MauiPa]

So you are okay locking the repair into "Apple only" supplied new parts.

Apple's definition of "unauthorized".

Yep, otherwise you get crappy sub standard third party parts that don’t work right. If this is a big deal to you, go android and learn to love malware. (Not making this up, read hackernews,lots and lots of bad software, even comes preonstalled for your convenience)

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

Apple is getting busted...

Maybe they will have to release a software update to allow any third party part. Imagine if they need to do it on every single phone they did this with...

That would never hold up in court.

 

[goobot]

... except for the low-RAM iPhones and iPads that, in just few years after launched, became obsolete in the past due to the lack of enough RAM.

I remember my first gen iPad came with an a4 which had half the ram of the iPhone a4 that came out 3 months later. That iPad got 2 major software updates before Apple abandoned it and it ran terribly on iOS 5 when it shipped on iOS 3.2 ( which many of the features that came with iOS 4 were already on 3.2 for the iPad) needless to say I’ve learned not to buy first gen apple products

 

[MNGR]

I see the serial number as a tool for getting the right part. But Apple goes too far with locking down functionality. Anyone else do this?

How else would you assess that the replacement part is functionally equivalent ?
And when it doesn’t work, who will get sued? Apple of course.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Due to Apple’s control over the iPhone market (monopoly control over all iPhones), there is a very real possibility at ANY time that Apple could produce an iPhone that chops off the fingers of the user when they turn on the device. Now, this would adversely impact their sales and, effectively, mean the end of the iPhone altogether. BUT, as it’s a thing I can think of that MIGHT happen, we have to act as it’s a foregone conclusion that they WILL do this.

 

[MNGR]

How else would you assess that the replacement part is functionally equivalent ?
And when it doesn’t work, who will get sued? Apple of course.

I had to replace the motor in my recliner. Looked the same, wired differently. So up was dowbln, down was up