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Wanna bet? Have you seen the rat's nest that's the underside of a tube-type chassis? What you see on top looks all neat and clean but underneath:

View attachment 1915537
Haha, yeah, they were a rat's nest. But given a schematic you could follow the wires along and many components were not difficult to replace in that mess. I've gotten my hands dirty mostly with classic stereos where replacing, say, a soldered capacitor or resistor is child's play compared to today's electronics where I can barely identify such any more.
 
The last Apple Device I repaired was an iPod with a hard drive. I replaced a battery in that for a coworker. After that, it just got too difficult and too risky for me to change out batteries. I consider myself fairly competent when it comes to technology.

With the # of people I know (relatives/friends) who have gone to mall shops to get their cracked screens replaced only to have serious degradation of touch sensitivity among other issues (screens popping off) - I will only ever go to Apple for my device services and I gladly pay for AppleCare+.

I can't imagine too many people will use this - companies? Yeah.
 
Questions!

Does it void the warranty?

Is SIRI going to be available if you get stuck fixing the iPhone?

Let’s be real who plans on fixing their iPhone by themselves? This all sounds very scary.

Apple: How about lowering the Applecare prices? How about lowering the prices what technician will charge you. This will be more beneficial for the consumer. I don’t think this self-repair thing will work.
1. I would hope Apple's own program would not void the warranty.
2. What do you mean "get stuck fixing the iPhone"? If you fix the phone successfully, why would Siri not be available?
3. I know a number of people who have replaced a screen by themselves without a program. Scary? I'm not sure I follow.
4. I am not sure how well Apple will stick to this idea either, but it sounds like you might mean something else when you say you don't think this "self-repair" thing will work.
 
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Let's be clear, other than a few zealots who frequent computer forums will ever attempt a repair. The other 99.999999999999999999999999999999% of iPhone owners will never even think it. Furthermore if someone screws up their repair Apple probably will not attempt to repair the damage from a self-administered repair. Might end selling more iPhones from offering this service.
False. I know people who have replaced their screen, and didn't have any idea of how computers work. Selling more iPhones through this? I doubt that, as even without this program, I have a strong impression that even DIY repairs are successful many more times than they fail.
 
This isn’t a surprise. Few people repair their own laptops even though OEMs will sell you the parts. Doesn’t mean the program shouldn’t exist… Good thing it is finally being offered, but it is just so Apple can get ahead of the inevitable right to repair laws that were inevitable.



This isn’t a bad thing actually. As we increasingly move to make products use less energy to reduce the impact on the climate we need people to upgrade “boring” devices that they otherwise wouldn’t want to upgrade. For instance, we waste a lot of energy in the vampire energy devices use that isn’t well tracked, but it is being improved upon.

Depends on the device. New phones aren't significantly more power efficient on a scale that outweighs the CO2 emissions from the making and molding of the materials and the powering of the associated machinery for the manufacturing. Think of the metal frames and bodies, melted into a mold or CNC machined, the glass that had to be melted, the assembly lines drawing 100s or 1000s of watts, the solder that had to be melted to make electrical contacts in the phone. Even though this is a one-time use of energy, it will likely dwarf the total power used from the typical 10W charging of a phone for a few hours a day. And new phones generally draw similar amounts of power, they just accomplish many more computations with that power. But yeah, replacing an old, inefficient refrigerator will likely lead to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions, given that you will use it for years.
 
Asking to keep one’s cake and eat it too. Things we want, like waterproofing (seals), drop resistance (solder connections), all require precision fittings. Thus, simple screws, easy off loose fittings, will degrade many of the benefits we all want. No free lunch. Doubt Apple will change the design to easier access. For the reason of our wants. If we will accept less, than possible. Me, like all those tight fitting, hard to impossible to get off features.
Then your answer is easy. Pay apple prices to have them repair your phone. Easy peasy

I would rather replace a screen myself. It’s not hard. Go slow take your time. Best investment is a small heat gun and a decent set of tools
 
In that case legal disposal of the waste oil is the main problem: unless your local dump doesn’t charge too much and isn’t too awkward to get to, the cost savings aren’t all that great once you value your time.
20 mins down the road. Waste oils station. Bring it down in 5 quart jugs. Just drop them off
 
Then your answer is easy. Pay apple prices to have them repair your phone. Easy peasy

I would rather replace a screen myself. It’s not hard. Go slow take your time. Best investment is a small heat gun and a decent set of tools
Correct, my commit eludes to me only having Apple do repairs. I have dropped my several iPhones, never needed a new screen, or internal repair other then one battery. I keep my iPhones for multiple years. Current one four years. I like the quality and durability built in up front as opposed to the backend repairs. So far my experience has shown, the front quality build reaps excellent savings and less of my time on repairs. Apple making it easier to repair not appealing.
 
Correct, my commit eludes to me only having Apple do repairs. I have dropped my several iPhones, never needed a new screen, or internal repair other then one battery. I keep my iPhones for multiple years. Current one four years. I like the quality and durability built in up front as opposed to the backend repairs. So far my experience has shown, the front quality build reaps excellent savings and less of my time on repairs. Apple making it easier to repair not appealing.
Why? I’m not asking for easier to fix though it would be nice. Just don’t make it impossible to replace screens or battery’s without needing special equipment to register the screen or battery
 
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Look at uBreakiFix, they’re slowly starting to diminish with what they’re able to actually even repair. Only older devices now, because they don’t have the training, they don’t have the necessary tools and quite frankly, even if they try to attempt to make repairs on newer iPhones, they’re will be paying out-of-pocket if they make the situation worse with repairs they aren’t qualified to make. That’s a company that will probably be by the wayside in about five years from now, because electronics are becoming so advanced with architecture, they don’t have the proper training as a third-party company to be disassembling phones and making legitimate repairs with how smartphones are becoming far more intricate.
Exactly what I was saying. My brother owns an auto repair shop and he is complaining that soon there so few repairs that he can do on the newer cars because of the advanced technology. H can ge the training and does constantly go to schools, but the tools and facility space needed is beyond what is affordable for a small shop. He already has 10's of thousands of dollars worth of dealer level "scan tools" bu to do an alignment on a new car with some form of self braking, you need a 30' x 30' clear space for the laser equipment. A windshield is the same thing as it will never go back in the exact same position causing different reflection off of the glass. The laser system needs to be recalibrated and if done wrong....you can kill somebody in an accident situation. Will you carry insurance for that?
 
It's getting that way with golf cart repair too. We already have tons of super expensive stuff to work on the more advanced ones (EZGO RXVs are drive-by-wire and new gas Yamaha Drive is EFI, and Lithium is creeping in). It's getting so difficult as the people who manufacture them make them increasingly harder to repair. So you get an RXV that takes 6 weeks to fully repair, with a cheapskate, impatient customer waiting on you just because they tried to DIY a radio and sparked a battery post and let all the magic smoke out of the electronics.

There are some cars you can't even get schematics on, or component parts.
 
I am also “small fraction“ and I really like all the “trust me I’m an engineer” posts. I don’t know how many times I’ve said that, sometimes with spectacular results. That said, my success with repairing Apple devices is nearly 100%. I like to tell people that no matter how good I am, Apple has one tool/skill that I never will: an endless supply of parts. Even though they may open this up to us, it’s not the same thing. Do you really want to wait several days to acquire a part you broke while doing a repair / upgrade? Leave all the parts of your laptop scattered on the kitchen table while you run to the Apple store only to come back and find the cat has found a new toy? There are a lot of delicate parts in Apple devices and plastic doesn’t age well.
Agreed.
Clearly, Apple sees the value in opening it up to DIYers otherwise they wouldn't do it. I doubt they're making much money doing it, so if nothing else, it would help to alleviate the burden of simple(r) repairs on (I'm assuming) a limited workforce while maintaining the appearance of being the hero.
 
Exactly what I was saying. My brother owns an auto repair shop and he is complaining that soon there so few repairs that he can do on the newer cars because of the advanced technology. H can ge the training and does constantly go to schools, but the tools and facility space needed is beyond what is affordable for a small shop. He already has 10's of thousands of dollars worth of dealer level "scan tools" bu to do an alignment on a new car with some form of self braking, you need a 30' x 30' clear space for the laser equipment. A windshield is the same thing as it will never go back in the exact same position causing different reflection off of the glass. The laser system needs to be recalibrated and if done wrong....you can kill somebody in an accident situation. Will you carry insurance for that?
The auto industry is definitely in for a massive change, because of how advanced vehicles are becoming as you said, and then eventually when you look at electric, there’s not much to service. Internal combustion will be here forever, but it will be to a lesser degree as we continue to advance with supplier relations and manufacturing.

I suspect what is going to really derail third-party repair services for electronics, is not just the lack of training, but they don’t have the parts that are necessary to repair these devices. And even if they could use a third-party part, the quality will probably not be on par with the actual OEM manufacturer.
 
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