iFixit Lowers iPhone 14's Repairability Score Due to Apple's Parts Pairing Requirement

[Larabee119]

iFixit is just another for-profit company that ride on the cause of the Right to repair. They are there to make money. So it's understandable that Apple's way of managing the iphone parts makes it harder for iFixit to make $$.
I'd rather have an authentic iphone than an iPhone that has fixed up parts from unknown sources.
Comment from the perspective of someone who roam around China and Asian countries.

 

[eicca]

“ The whole point of LIFE and gaining skills is to use those skills to make and save more money.”

What a bleak outlook.

So you sit around with no skill and knowledge, and then what? How do you expect to survive? Mooching off someone else’s skill?

 

[NT1440]

So you sit around with no skill and knowledge, and then what? How do you expect to survive? Mooching off someone else’s skill?

I’m a system administrator, rebuild houses in disaster areas on my vacations, and maintain/repair cars for about 12 friends and family because it saves them money they don’t have. I can weld, and upgrade your company’s servers while eliminating their reliance on outdated GPO policies in favor of modern MDM practices. I think “doesn’t have skills” is not a great descriptor of myself.

The point of living has nothing to do with money.

 

[eicca]

O
I’m a system administrator, rebuild houses in disaster areas on my vacations, and maintain/repair cars for about 12 friends and family because it saves them money they don’t have…I think “doesn’t have skills” is not a great descriptor of myself.

The point of living has nothing to do with money.

I don’t know the last time you tried living without money, but it doesn’t work. Gotta eat somehow.

 

[NT1440]

I don’t know the last time you tried living without money, but it doesn’t work. Gotta eat somehow.

That makes money a means to an end, not the point itself.

 

[eicca]

That makes money a means to an end, not the point itself.

Kinda hard to get to the end without the means.

 

[KJL3000]

“What the f… , Tim?!”

 

[OnawaAfrica]

Typically iFixit thinking they are the Authority and Status Qo on Repairability. They are so full of them self.
Pairing parts is not threatening anything it makes sure that the parts are genuine. The business model those 3rd party shops have is They Order the Part from apple and then resell it more expensive and the customer gets a cheap rubbish part in their phone, ripping of the Customer.

 

[iBluetooth]

Apple's self repair is not easy to use for end consumers. Seems like the best way to repair is to take it to Apple directly

Just like car repairs is not for everyone. But for those that have the ability it is a nice option, but if I buy a used phone, I want to make sure that genuine parts were used if it was repaired.

 

[surfzen21]

That doesn't surprise me. I witnessed people stripping abandoned cars on the Cross-Bronx Expressway/I-95, back in 1988. We were only going about 25 MPH, but I hoped that no one would try to strip the moving cars.

On the Apple front, I remember trying to get my iPhone 7 display and Home button assembly replaced and the closest authorized repair shop would need a day or two because the parts and the configuration device were at another location.

Oh man, do I have stories that would take this way way off topic 🤣

That's crazy they shared the config device between shops. Im not surprised though. Sketchy medical facilities, who basically scam no-fault, do that with MRI machines. But the catch is they "bill" it out as if its multiple units across all the facilities.

 

[Rocko99991]

I’ve said this many times in the past, but it is worth reminding people I guess.

Right to repair just means you can repair the device with parts from the manufacturer. It doesn’t mean the parts are available cheap or free.

There is a very vibrant parts business for cars and many parts have to be sourced via the car dealerships “parts counter” even by third party repair shops. If a third party can manufacture compatible parts that’s a cheaper alternative, but it is in no way guaranteed and the OEM doesn’t have to do it for them.

And this is how manufactures will counter the right to repair laws-charging insane amounts for parts and locking down products so only OEM parts will work, killing off 3rd party parts suppliers. Seems legit..

 

[Sophisticatednut]

IFixit is so full of ****, but it’s paying off as companies pair up with them to provide parts (which means revenue).

They NEVER go into the security reasons for some of these pairing decisions.

The reason is because there zero security reasons for it.

You want to know a super simple solution? Purchased new unused spare parts will automatically pair with the device. And recycled parts or parts taken from existing devices would need to go through this ridiculous pairing process to control if they are registered with a reported stolen device.

The only reason these things are a problem is apples insistency to not allow their manufacturers to sell the parts to consumers or just allow anyone to purchase any singular part directly from Apple.

So people are forced to use black market parts than can ether be from stolen devices that are sold for parts, or smugglers who steal them directly from the manufacturers. Or at worst bootlegged copies are made.

And is completely self constructed problem by apple

 

[Sophisticatednut]

There is just no way to please iFixit. I genuinely don’t understand what the problem is. Independent shops can become official repair shops quite easily - then they just can’t use third party parts or parts whose origin is “unknown”. And that’s a good thing. The less incentive there is to steal an iPhone, the better.

Also, as a customer, I do want to know if my device (or one that I’m planning to buy second hand) has been repaired using third party components.

iFixit just wants to make money by selling parts themselves.

p.s. iFixit has stopped giving repairability scores for devices made by companies whose partners they are.

It’s one of the worst trade deals in the history of trade deals. Do you have any idea how it just becomes expensive to repair devices if you are an official repair shop. You aren’t even allowed to do some extremely easy repairs that would cost 20$ to do such as charging port.

But go to apple or an authorised service provider and they will charge you a more than 200$ for it. While an independent repair shop can repair it for 20$ as they don’t need to send it to Apple.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Did you not read a word I said? Clearly not.

I read what you said. And, I get how you’re upset with the Right to Repair movement’s singleminded focus on ensuring that people have the ability to acquire proprietary parts and tools to repair their devices while having no interest at all in the affordability of those parts/tools.

Sounds like, for some, there may need to be a special Right To Repair Cheaply movement started.

 

[eicca]

Sounds like, for some, there may need to be a special Right To Repair Cheaply movement started.

Repair CHEAPLY has been THE SINGULAR FOCUS of all repair DIYers since the dawn of time.

That's the ENTIRE POINT of being free to not have to go to the factory or call the tradesman.

That's the whole point of learning the skill, to keep the value for myself instead of paying someone else for the value.

Good gravy, what universe do you live in?

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Repair CHEAPLY has been THE SINGULAR FOCUS of all repair DIYers since the dawn of time.

That's the ENTIRE POINT of being free to not have to go to the factory or call the tradesman.

That's the whole point of learning the skill, to keep the value for myself instead of paying someone else for the value.

Good gravy, what universe do you live in?

So, in THIS universe, I haven’t seen any “cheap DIY” legislation. I HAVE seen “RTR” legislation. And, the “RTR” legislation, UNFORTUNATELY for the “cheap DIY” people, has nothing in it for “cheap DIY”. I completely understand why folks want to do things cheaply. However, it appears that “cheap DIY” people are going to have to take a good long look at how much it costs to repair things, that Right To Repair makes possible, before they buy them.

To the point where… anyone in favor of “cheap DIY” that buys anything that would cost more than they would want to pay to repair is not acting in their best interest.

 

[ender78]

Tell ou the truth 3rd party parts do not have to be certified in car repairs and often times do not contain any certifications from the OEM. They can say OEM equivalent but that does not mean OEM. It can say made to OEM standards but that does not any certfication. Now failing to meet what they claim on is false advertisement. I have put plenty of 3rd party parts in older cars of mine. They were not nearly as good as OEM but were good enough for what I needed at the time.

Do all the repairs that you did yourself go on the CarFax report? The laws around cars being repaired with 3rd Party parts were written when many parts in a car were analog. How do I as the purchaser of this car know that it contains no third party parts. Especially if this is happening three owners down the road. People these days are buying parts on AliExpress and Ebay which come nowhere close to meeting OEM requirements.

To bring the car analogy forward, let not pretend that replacing the screen on the iPhone is the equivalent of replacing an engine or transmission. It is simply too easy to hide poor work or parts inside a phone.

 

[ender78]

Apple’s crooks have monetized those of us who are more skilled than the general populace.

Glad that you're posting your biased opinions as fact. Since you insinuate that what they are doing is criminal, want to quote what law's they're breaking.


I'm all for anyone being able to repair their own phone under one condition. When the phone boots, I can easily see which parts are not OEM. No one that has fixed the phone themselves can sell that phone as unaltered. Have you ever sold your used Apple devices and let the buyer know that you repaired it yourself?

 

[ender78]

It’s one of the worst trade deals in the history of trade deals. Do you have any idea how it just becomes expensive to repair devices if you are an official repair shop. You aren’t even allowed to do some extremely easy repairs that would cost 20$ to do such as charging port.

How do I as a consumer get to evaluate that this repair is legit? Easy repair does not make it reliable?

 

[eicca]

So, in THIS universe, I haven’t seen any “cheap DIY” legislation. I HAVE seen “RTR” legislation. And, the “RTR” legislation, UNFORTUNATELY for the “cheap DIY” people, has nothing in it for “cheap DIY”. I completely understand why folks want to do things cheaply. However, it appears that “cheap DIY” people are going to have to take a good long look at how much it costs to repair things, that Right To Repair makes possible, before they buy them.

To the point where… anyone in favor of “cheap DIY” that buys anything that would cost more than they would want to pay to repair is not acting in their best interest.

Explain to me why anybody, ANYBODY, would bother learning complex skills and fixing something themselves if not to save time and money.

If you're relying on legislation to define reality then you are out of touch to a degree never thought possible.

 

[eicca]

Glad that you're posting your biased opinions as fact. Since you insinuate that what they are doing is criminal, want to quote what law's they're breaking.

Where is it an opinion that Apple's self-repair program is almost entirely more expensive, far more complicated, and more time consuming than just taking it to the store?

It's a fact.

Explain why anybody should bother learning the skill to learn to repair something if they're going to be charged a premium for their hard work.

 

[bgillander]

If Apple really wants to prevent stolen iPhones from being parted out, all they have to do is extend the activation lock to the component level. I.e. if the phone wasn't deactivated then the parts inside can't be used in any other device.

If it was deactivated consentually, part away.

Wait, are you suggesting a hardware lock/kill switch on every part? That is a lot of “all they have to do”!

How would that work exactly? A semaphore switch on each part that locks it every time you lock the device? If we were to assume that is even possible, the unlock time would be rather interesting, I’m sure. I would expect that the precise timing that would be required would end up with quite a few bricked phones.

But, if we just simply assume that everything somehow works, my personal experience has only involved reusing parts from devices that have broken or died. The one broken screen I had would have allowed an unlock before tear-down, but I still turned off the phone before working on it, which locked it. If they added a “Release Security” option, I guess that would have worked, in that one case, but usually I only tear apart items that don’t even start, and I don’t recall ever knowing beforehand that my electronics were not going to start next try, so wouldn’t those all become e-waste, unless you never ever turned the security feature on?

Sorry, I’m probably overthinking this, but when you said “all they have to do”, all I could think of was that this sounded incredibly complicated to actually do.

 

[rezenclowd3]

The entire point of fixing something myself is to save money by eliminating the need for the “skilled OEM service.”

Like the BMW transmission my friend and I fixed last weekend for a total of $200 instead of the $6k dealer cost.

Imagine if BMW made it so the only way to replace the failed rubber o-rings, which cost $40, was to then recalibrate the whole transmission with the $8k DIY tool that only they sell. Downright evil and manipulative.

Apple is blatantly hosing over skilled people just to get their money.

It should never EVER cost more to NOT use the factory service. Thats a blatant infringement on freedom of choice and a despicable move by Apple.

Yup, BMW as of a year or 2 ago BMW put all the schematics behind a paywall...$2700 a year, $32/day. Used to be free. * them. This makes it VERY difficult for the home DIYer, even a shop to fix a car. I did however use the schematics of 3 cars to install a 16 year old newer engine and trans into my car. Fun. However we did pay to sneaker net a definition file for an unreleased software version of the ECU, which we later used to allow others do install the same engine into anything, software wise- for free.

 

[eicca]

Wait, are you suggesting a hardware lock/kill switch on every part? That is a lot of “all they have to do”!

How would that work exactly? A semaphore switch on each part that locks it every time you lock the device? If we were to assume that is even possible, the unlock time would be rather interesting, I’m sure. I would expect that the precise timing that would be required would end up with quite a few bricked phones.

But, if we just simply assume that everything somehow works, my personal experience has only involved reusing parts from devices that have broken or died. The one broken screen I had would have allowed an unlock before tear-down, but I still turned off the phone before working on it, which locked it. If they added a “Release Security” option, I guess that would have worked, in that one case, but usually I only tear apart items that don’t even start, and I don’t recall ever knowing beforehand that my electronics were not going to start next try, so wouldn’t those all become e-waste, unless you never ever turned the security feature on?

Sorry, I’m probably overthinking this, but when you said “all they have to do”, all I could think of was that this sounded incredibly complicated to actually do.

Not even lock each part, just serial match them to the phone they were built with. And if that phone hasn’t been iCloud unlocked, then the parts would be rejected by any other phone until the donor was unlocked.

 

[bgillander]

Explain to me why anybody, ANYBODY, would bother learning complex skills and fixing something themselves if not to save time and money.

If you're relying on legislation to define reality then you are out of touch to a degree never thought possible.

While I have definitely saved money fixing things myself, I don’t think I have ever come close to saving time. I guess if I fixed the same thing over and over, I might speed up, but usually there is too much learning involved.

Some people do just like building things themselves, even if it costs more, apparently. Or at least they used to… I recall seeing my first Heathkit catalog as a kid, and discovering that the colour tv kits cost more than a fully assembled tv. I found it weird, but I guess some people really wanted to build it themselves. Not enough, I assume, because I haven’t seen them for years.

Scratch that…Your post made me think of them for the first time in years, and a search just showed that they are apparently still around (or back) making educational kits! Holy retro, Batman! Thanks for making me think of them!