When service at the apple store guarantees any botched up repairs for free this makes it stupid to do as an end consumer, but good for shops.
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Testing Out Apple's Self Repair Program With an iPhone 12 Mini Battery Fix
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There is still a choice. One can buy only the parts instead of the tools. No point cribbing. Choice is good.
TL;DR:
Dude with no experience has trouble doing stuff
Ok. Now we know.
Dude with no experience has trouble doing stuff
Ok. Now we know.
I agree. Choice is good to have. But having a choice doesn't mean that it is definitely easy or cheap.
The regulators who were all up on Apple's back 😆
Seriously though, compare this to iFixit's far leaner kits which have been repeatedly documented as being competent enough to carry out the job and you'll see how this is a really cynical move on Apple's part.
They legitimately made it as cumbersome as humanly possible. It is a big F you to regulators while too psychologically daunting for any layman to fix their own devices, making a moderately complicated repair seem like its as difficult as building a nuke.
Pretty sad all things considered, but we've always known what side of the fence Apple stands on regarding right to repair. This should be no surprise
As evident by the fact that they can be repaired rather easily, actually. Right.
Surely, some stuff is ridiculous, like that you can’t replace the back glass or have trouble replacing the lightning port, but they are definitely not build to not be serviced. Only a fool would claim that. Oh well.
Not even close to being the same thing.
If a poorly trained person gets something wrong with the brakes on your car he could likely end up killing you, me and lots of others as well as causing 10's of thousands of £/$/€, or whatever. You can't often say the same about a phone.
First off I get what you are saying.
But there is the water and dust proof issue, I'm not telling you it is impossible to do a water proof seal without, glue, its just much more simple to use the glue.
People nowadays spit on and ridicule the very service people that they will beg to fix their product after they botch their own repair. Everyone thinks they’re an expert in everything because they have a phone and youtube. They take both convenience and advanced engineering for granted, as is evident with the response to this repair kit.
Apple knows the right to repair crowd and can see the already-drafted lawsuits waiting to be filed from 10 miles away. They have no choice but to provide the exact tools and repair steps that a professional would use so the job is done to spec as would be expected. If you cannot perform the steps, maybe it’s time to check your ego and let people do their jobs, and *pay them* for their experience, training and labor. See, that’s the part people don’t like, relying on someone more experienced. Real kicker to the ego. This is nothing new, people try to tear their cars apart and the mechanic sighs saying “I told you so”.
There‘s nothing wrong with people learning how to repair their own stuff, but they gotta do it the right way if they expect their device to last as long as possible and any applicable warranties to be valid after the fact.
Wow! This just boggles my brain! Before iPhone 1, everyone could just swap out their battery by opening a case in the back and take out the old battery and put in a new one. Even a 5 year old could do it and you needed only fingers and maybe nails to do it. The process took about 1-3 minutes. I did it many times on my Nokias...
Apple made a problem out of nothing just to make money and everyone else just followed because they could see how much money this brings in. Making it so hard to do anything with your product just triggers people to buy new. I can see the logic behind it.
And now. The right to repair yourself. You just need 2 big cases and half your day... the world has come to this? Its like stepping backwards a million steps. Sure the phones are beautiful and thin and blah blah blah, but Jesus common! Is this how we like the world to become?
Make problems out of nothing so that companies can make more money? Think if the iPhone 13 Pro Max could just be a little bit thicker and have a removable back so that you could just swap out the battery? And also get to the inside more easy. Think of all the less crap people would need to worry about and stress about.
And yes you can make the phone waterproof and still have a removable battery. I had the Samsung S5 and it had removable back with easy battery replacement and was also water "proof"... It was after the S6 they started to bake the battery into the phones.
Also at the same time everyone suddenly started to make everything glass for no reason other than to make it feel premium. A phone that's supposed to be used and carried on you at all times was suddenly all in glass? But that's another rant for another post...
The world is just going mad!
Apple made a problem out of nothing just to make money and everyone else just followed because they could see how much money this brings in. Making it so hard to do anything with your product just triggers people to buy new. I can see the logic behind it.
And now. The right to repair yourself. You just need 2 big cases and half your day... the world has come to this? Its like stepping backwards a million steps. Sure the phones are beautiful and thin and blah blah blah, but Jesus common! Is this how we like the world to become?
Make problems out of nothing so that companies can make more money? Think if the iPhone 13 Pro Max could just be a little bit thicker and have a removable back so that you could just swap out the battery? And also get to the inside more easy. Think of all the less crap people would need to worry about and stress about.
And yes you can make the phone waterproof and still have a removable battery. I had the Samsung S5 and it had removable back with easy battery replacement and was also water "proof"... It was after the S6 they started to bake the battery into the phones.
Also at the same time everyone suddenly started to make everything glass for no reason other than to make it feel premium. A phone that's supposed to be used and carried on you at all times was suddenly all in glass? But that's another rant for another post...
The world is just going mad!
This programme is for those who had basic knowledge on electronics and mechanics to satisfy their wish for repairing their phones, and to shut those right of repair dudes up. Definitely not for the majority of public. I am more concerned about the potential incidents relating to Li battery replacement. That’s one big fire hazard.
No. Apple is not going to take a loss when you come running into the store blaming them for a repair that you INSISTED on doing yourself, knowing damn well how complex the device is. It’s the same reason why a mechanic won’t accept outside parts for auto repair. He’s gotta trust the cheapskate to provide quality parts and then take a hit when said parts fail. Passing the buck is nothing new for these types though.The regulators who were all up on Apple's back 😆
Seriously though, compare this to iFixit's far leaner kits which have been repeatedly documented as being competent enough to carry out the job and you'll see how this is a really cynical move on Apple's part.
They legitimately made it as cumbersome as humanly possible. It is a big F you to regulators while too psychologically daunting for any layman to fix their own devices, making a moderately complicated repair seem like its as difficult as building a nuke.
Pretty sad all things considered, but we've always known what side of the fence Apple stands on regarding right to repair. This should be no surprise
A judge will laugh this out of court, especially if Apple provided all proper warnings and disclosures in the repair kit. Their lawyers wouldn’t let this kit see the light of day if not.
Not always. Read through this article bit again:
It costs $49 to get the kit and $70.99 for the iPhone 12 mini battery bundle, though you get $24.15 back for sending in old parts.
That means it costs a total of $95.84 to do a battery swap on the iPhone 12 mini, and comparatively, it's $69 to have Apple swap it out, so it's not really cost effective to do that repair on your own.
So even if you buy just the battery and nothing else it will still cost you more than having it repaired by Apple with the warranty that comes with it.
Or am I missing something?
Me a fool? lol. I think your statement shows exactly how much you know about manufacturing.
This program is complete BS, it is another way for Apple to make money, cosmetic "change" to say they are doing their best to help with R2R, but in fact it is again Apple greed over really helping its customers. In fact all Apple users should start a class action lawsuit to force Apple to change its policies towards its customers! I say, make all parts removable, like in the MacStudio, without the deliberate firmware restrictions, or the T2 chip who doesn't allow third party SSD's or other components to be placed. So **** you Apple for this ridiculous program!
As someone has already pointed out, this repair program is meant for businesses, independent repair shops, IT equipment suppliers/sellers and alike who have to maintain or service hundreds of terminals on daily/weekly basis. If you have swap 20 batteries and change 10 displays, it make sense to rent all the tools from Apple for a few days each quarter. The program is clearly not designed for individuals. The only good thing is that you can now buy genuine Apple parts and have access to detailed service manuals. Hope this extents to Macs and iPads and also beyond Apple.
…and by the time you’ve found out what “properly weighted” means, tracked down and purchased such a roller, and a heated blanket etc, spending 5 bucks here, 10 bucks there, renting the professional tools for $50 is a more sensible use of your time and money (oh, and you don‘t end up with a bunch of cheap tools that you’ll never use again gathering dust until you throw them in the trash…)
Maybe Apple could contrive to make iPhones with more easily replaceable parts (batteries at least) - but then they’d haemorrhage sales to competitors who made their phones lighter, slimmer and waterproof.
its actually to do with right to repair and not the EU. this is silly you can take your car to any garage to get fixed and that's on the road. the issue is apple don't want you to go any where else apart from them and that's not right to get your $600 to $999 dollar toy fixed you have to go back to the manufacture. they don't want retailers to have access to the proper tools that's why you have to put in the serial number before you order a part. that's not right
Changed battery on my iPhone 5 many years ago without these things with out much problem. Maybe not for everyone to do, you need to be careful and read instruction (ifixt) thoroughly unlike how he describes in the video.
If the rotary lift packed down into a 40lb suitcase and could be rented for $50 a week I'd take that like a shot rather than faff around with a floor jack.
That was my thought! I love my iPhones, but requiring that level of specialized tools and effort to replace high failure rate item like a battery is just wild. I'd accept a lower waterproof/resistance rating to have an accessible battery.