Only a 'Small Fraction' of iPhone Users Will Use Self Service Repair Program, Study Suggests

dwaltwhit said:
I see a major user of this to be the tech support family member getting into this program and being the person that can fix them for family and friends. Maybe you pay him or her in beer or pizza or something.
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This. My wife's family aren't well-off and I'm their source of free tech support. If I'm able to save them a few bucks and not having to coordinate taking things to stores for repair and backing up, etc, it's just easier. Of course, they'll need new phones to be able to take advantage of this, but at least it's going to save me headaches in the future.
 
ouimetnick said:
If your $1k+ iPhone is 3 years old and you are comfortable doing your own repairs, why not?

I recently repaired an iPhone 11 Pro Max with a cracked back, by swapping over the battery, logic board, camera, Face ID, and display into a new back housing. Took about 3 hours and definitely not for a newbie, but it worked out just fine.
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Because you are repairing this independently any mistake you make is going to be your money down the drain. You might go from a iPhone with a cracked back to an iPhone with a broken display ribbon and a punctured battery. Obviously I'm exaggerating a little but it's not unreasonable that some people don't want to do their own repairs and risk more damage.
 
Only a “small fraction” of car owners do our own maintenance, but we darn well appreciate being able to do so without being blocked at every turn by the manufacturer.
The placement of the oil filter on my 2011 F-150 might be stupid and difficult to get to, but the fact the thing isn’t glued in and doesn’t require a special tool you can only get from Ford to remove is good enough for me.
 
mansplains said:
In my experience, Apple won't replace a battery in an iPad, they typically replace the entire unit. I don't know when you tried having this done, but without AppleCare or Limited Warranty you would've had to pay for the replacement anyway, it doesn't seem like something Apple would deny fixing with the monetary incentive.

I'm glad you were able to get it replaced yourself though! iPads can be tricky to work with.
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This happened couple months ago. It was my daughter's iPad (and before that it was my wife's). I got fed up that it was randomly shutting down. I didn't care what it would cost to repair it. It did not make sense to buy her a new one as iPad Air 2 was still more than enough (apart from shutting down issue).

The only person who had access to that iPad apart from myself, my wife and my child is a BestBuy technician, who took it away from me to inspect it in the store and then returned and said it was a battery issue. He said that it would be best if I shipped it to Apple myself to get a faster turn around. I don't think he jailbroke it, but perhaps, whatever idiot inspected it at Apple, saw traces of testing done by BestBuy tech and decided that I "misused" the device.

I will never let BestBuy lay their hands on my Apple devices going forward.

If anyone from Apple would be reading this, here is the repair ID: D497535965
 
boss.king said:
This. My wife's family aren't well-off and I'm their source of free tech support. If I'm able to save them a few bucks and not having to coordinate taking things to stores for repair and backing up, etc, it's just easier. Of course, they'll need new phones to be able to take advantage of this, but at least it's going to save me headaches in the future.
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This is me too. I started repairing my own screens after shattering my six month old iPhone 4 and balking at how much Apple wanted for the replacement. I got into replacing screens for others after a coworker mentioned their girlfriend had been without a phone for a week because she was saving up for enough to afford Apple’s replacement price.
Since then I’ve repaired everything from screens to batteries to ports and speakers, always just for the price of the parts themselves. I’ve never damaged a single item and have never had anyone unsatisfied with my work.
I evaluate my success on the thousands of dollars I’ve saved folks and the dozens of phones I’ve kept away from the garbage can over the last decade.
I have no idea if this new program will make sense until more specifics such as pricing are announced, but at least it’s a move in the right direction.
 
Johnny907 said:
I have no idea if this new program will make sense until more specifics such as pricing are announced, but at least it’s a move in the right direction.
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That's the thing I'm waiting for too. How specialised are these tools going to be and at what cost? I already know that whatever I'm imagining in my head is too low, but surely they have to be cheaper than just taking your phone in.
 
Tagbert said:
Not a surprise. Most of us could do repair work on our cars but don't.
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A not dissimilar situation has occurred with cars over the years, with auto manufacturers making working on cars harder and harder, requiring technology, special tools, and just generally creating an atmosphere under the bonnet that looks uninviting to the concept of pulling up your sleeves and getting in there to fix / service the thing.

And - I say that as someone who took half a day to complete his first "operation" - changing a power steering pump - because my OCD made me clean my hands after removing every bolt.

Sure - in reality most people are not going to take up this "offer" from Apple to DIY.

Hopefully however, and - I live in hope - this move to allow repairs is going to be followed by some changes to manufacture.

At the end of the day, the whole "Right to Repair" movement* isn't about being able to DIY - it's about the fact that Apple (and others) have made their devices less and less repairable - even by experts - pushing up repair costs, and creating more landfill by making so many devices unusable, that could in the past have been repaired.

* Probably?
 
flimpy said:
This happened couple months ago. It was my daughter's iPad (and before that it was my wife's). I got fed up that it was randomly shutting down. I didn't care what it would cost to repair it. It did not make sense to buy her a new one as iPad Air 2 was still more than enough (apart from shutting down issue).

The only person who had access to that iPad apart from myself, my wife and my child is a BestBuy technician, who took it away from me to inspect it in the store and then returned and said it was a battery issue. He said that it would be best if I shipped it to Apple myself to get a faster turn around. I don't think he jailbroke it, but perhaps, whatever idiot inspected it at Apple, saw traces of testing done by BestBuy tech and decided that I "misused" the device.

I will never let BestBuy lay their hands on my Apple devices going forward.

If anyone from Apple would be reading this, here is the repair ID: D497535965
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Keep in mind Apple outsources the work on older models like this, and is notorious for coming up with excuses to not repair them. Getting inside the guts of an iPad requires removal of the screen itself and would be the LAST thing a tech would do for a simple diagnosis, especially for something that could be detected by connecting it to a test rig through the lightning port.
For the symptoms you mention, either the power regulator on the motherboard is faulty or the battery itself is faulty, more likely the latter of the two given the devices age. Both issues would show up on the software diagnostic.
I would ask Apple for proof of what they claim, frankly. Since they most likely can’t provide it, if you keep pushing you’ll get a satisfactory resolution.

And I know Best Buy is the communal whipping boy around here, but the one and only time I trusted Apple with my phone, a phone still under warranty, one of their “geniuses” ruined it and then tried to blame me. If not for the time stamped photos I took of the entire phone from several angles before I brought it in that day he might have gotten away with it as the manager was initially 100% on his side. Even then they tried to pawn off a refurb on me.
Apple is a company out to make money, just like any other. Never treat them like anything but.
 
lazyrighteye said:
This is not surprising. We've become such a disposable (and lazy) society. Ice maker in the fridge no longer working? Get a new one. Still, I firmly sit in the camp that would gladly tackle - and have - some of these more frequent repairs.
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Doing your own repairs is so dam rewarding as well.

I’ve fixed both vacuums in my house. One was the Dyson motor head my wife was going to just replace for $200!. It just need dismantling and hair romoved from the motor (poor design). The other was a simple on switch.

Dyson sells all the spares as well. They’re expensive but still cheaper than buying a new one. It’s great.
 
A push for longer full repair/coverage warranties (3 years parts, 4 years battery) would have been more beneficial to the customer/user. I am thinking that a lot of people who think they can repair or replace parts on their devices are going to be in for a surprise as they try to open these complex pieces of tech.

All this does is allow for 3rd party repair shops to order parts from Apple, and I can just see all the JoeSchmo repair services popping up now. In terms of heavy damage (drops, falls, water damage), are these repair shops that much more affordable than Apple? Can they be trusted? Do they do a better job?

I personally think forcing companies to cover their own (expensive) devices for longer periods of time would be better than 'right to repair'. I have no interest in filling the pockets of the Louis Rossmans of the world, but that's just me.
 
Wanted797 said:
Doing your own repairs is so dam rewarding as well.
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Hell yeah! My 2009 MacBookPro trackpad button wasn't working any more. Was looking at a replacement for $50 on eBay... but then saw videos showing that the "clicker" wears out the contact. But, if you peel the clicker off, and offset it slightly, it will be making contact again, and work. I figured I had not much to lose, so opened it up, followed the online instructions, and - voila! Fixed.

Very satisfying result.

Now have 3 x SSDs to instal - 2012 Mac Mini, 2009 MBP, and 2009 iMac 24". The last one scares me a bit, but it's a machine that's worth about $100 on eBay, so again like the MBP button, not a huge loss if I do **** it up.

At least however none of those "repairs" involved glued parts. (Well - ok - the trackpad repair involved a strongly held down sticker...)
 
Heat_Fan89 said:
Seriously, if I have the money to drop $1K+ on a smartphone, you think I would cheap out on trying to repair it myself? No way, i'd rather spend the money and have either Apple or Best Buy who have the proper tools to do the job right the first time and not make it look like an amateur did the repairs. And think about it. If you try and sell a phone back to Apple or anyone else and they see it has been visibly repaired, you think you're going to get top dollar for it?
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Given how often Apple changes and cleans up the internals, it is fairly easy to damage or tear a display cable, even with help from iFixit guides. The average consumer has a higher chance of botching a repair.
 
dmr727 said:
That's why this was such a good move by Apple - it generates a huge amount of positive press without actually affecting them much at all.
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That's not how it's going to work. Of course most users won't do their own repairs, but now they can take it to a 3rd party repairer, and that repairer has access to the full list of genuine parts, manuals, and tools, so will be able to do all the repairs that Apple can, but cheaper, and without having to give up your laptop for an entire week to the Apple store for a repair that actually only takes a couple of hours. Same thing as being able to take your car to get repaired at your local mechanic, instead of taking it to the genuine dealer and getting reamed for 2 or 3 times the price. I don't understand why so many commenters are too dumb to work this out, it's so obvious.
 
Wanted797 said:
Doing your own repairs is so dam rewarding as well.

I’ve fixed both vacuums in my house. One was the Dyson motor head my wife was going to just replace for $200!. It just need dismantling and hair romoved from the motor (poor design). The other was a simple on switch.

Dyson sells all the spares as well. They’re expensive but still cheaper than buying a new one. It’s great.
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THIS!
Thank you for reminding me of this oft-overlooked aspect! It's not at all uncommon that the consideration set stops at the cost/convenience relationship (I do it myself, allllllll of the time) - which is too bad. It potentially robs us of an important human experience we are, to a large degree, losing. The experience of embarking on a journey whose outcome is unknown. Where, along the way, solutions are pondered, tried, failed and learned. No guts, no glory.

To be clear: replacing the battery in an iPhone is intriguing for some, not even a potential consideration for others. Neither is more right than the other. To each their own. Cheers.
 
Heat_Fan89 said:
Seriously, if I have the money to drop $1K+ on a smartphone, you think I would cheap out on trying to repair it myself? No way, i'd rather spend the money and have either Apple or Best Buy who have the proper tools to do the job right the first time and not make it look like an amateur did the repairs. And think about it. If you try and sell a phone back to Apple or anyone else and they see it has been visibly repaired, you think you're going to get top dollar for it?
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No silly, it will be just like being able to take your car to your local mechanic, instead of to the genuine dealer. You'll be able to shop around for the best price, service, and quality. And just like a mechanic, you can read the reviews and/or through word of mouth, or trial and error, you can find a good one.
 
JPack said:
What kind of survey is this??

Of course most respondents would indicate they have a working phone. If they didn’t, it’s likely to have been replaced or serviced already. This is similar to walking down the street and asking who needs to visit the hospital.
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Yep. Looks like you’re the only commenter on the first page who actually read the article!
 
It’s one thing to supply screens and batteries tho what use are they when the item is designed not to be repaired.

Apple needs to allow repairs and supply actual part like ICs and for manuals they also need to supply schematics so actual repairs can be done not just replacing parts that’s not very green when only a small component is required yet they give you the whole logic board what a wast.
 
I'm darn good at repairing electronic junk, having been doing so for decades - but still when prying apart glued bitsn I'm always anticipating something going terribly wrong.

There's really no reason to glue things together. Many other ways of fastening bits together could be used.
 
This will not stop people like Rene Ritchie fanboi-gasming over it.

Code: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH8rD-D-BL4
 
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