Apple has declared that customers would be able to “self-repair” their devices, an unprecedented decision that might reduce the cost of repairing iPhones and Macs while also extending the life of these complex electronics. The news represents a significant shift in Apple’s repair guidelines and a significant step forward for the right to repair initiative.
We explain why Apple’s decision to change its position on the right to repair iPhones and Macs is a significant win for customers and its implication for the industry.
What is ‘right to repair’?
The motive of such a program is straightforward. Allow any user to repair a device on their own or take it to a repair shop where it fixes after a thorough check by a specialist with access to original iPhone parts. However, opponents claim that current technology is designed and manufactured so that it is practically hard for a person or a third-party service center to fix it.
People have no choice but to replace broken components with new ones or take them to the company’s service center and spend a large sum of money to have them fixed since tech companies have made it so difficult to fix a device. It’s why opponents of the “right to repair” argue that it will pressure companies to make their devices more repairable and provide third-party repair service providers access to legitimate equipment, parts, and documentation.
Consumers may still open and repair devices on their own nowadays. The issue is that neither people nor third parties (other than those approved by the brand) have access to the necessary guiding documents or tools.
Apple finally gives users right-to-repair
Apple has historically opposed rules that protect consumers’ ability to fix their devices. The same firm opposed independent repair by prohibiting tool and parts access and making their products difficult to repair. However, the introduction of a self-service repair program would let people and third parties do repairs on their own using authentic parts and tools.
By this year, Apple will give parts, tools, and instructions to individual iPhone 12 and iPhone 13. Users will order parts to repair their phone’s display, battery, and camera. Later this year, fixing other iPhone functionalities will be available. The program will launch in the United States early next year, and it will expand to Mac machines with M1 processors. The manufacturer did not disclose the price of the spare components.
It is still a significant development for customers and a great step by Apple. It creates a positive picture of Apple and demonstrates that it is possible to make iPhone parts available to end-users and allow them to fix their own devices. Before this news, Apple had the image of a firm in charge of all iPhone repairs. Apple gained a monopoly due to its attitude of regulating repairs of costly iPhones and Macs, limiting access to equipment and parts to a small number of approved Apple service facilities.
Of course, there’s money being made, which is why Apple only made repair devices and replacement components available to its 5,000 Apple-authorized providers and another 2,800 independent service centers with Apple-certified specialists. Many independent service websites welcomed Apple’s plan to allow customers to fix their own devices.
The idea isn’t that a business shouldn’t invest in approved service centers or that independent repair shops have inexperienced technicians. The source of worry is how new entrepreneurs purposefully limit customer choice for their gain.
Customers prefer a third-party service center due to cost savings, and it is how the customer’s psychology works. However, if third-party service providers do not have access to authentic components, the devices are exposed to non-certified spare iPhone parts. Users are frequently left with no option except to purchase a new item, which might be less expensive than having a product serviced. It is suitable for the brand, but it isn’t good for the environment due to the sheer system that pushes people to discard products and replace them with new ones.
Big tech is under pressure from regulators.
Apple isn’t the only firm whose repair rules have been probed by regulators and right-to-repair groups. Nintendo has been sued over Joy-Con drift, a common issue that leaves customers with hardly any choice except to send in their controllers for repair. Many people blame Nintendo for doing nothing despite knowing about the problem. It is because newer items are challenging to repair, and even if a consumer attempts to open and repair it on their own, it may injure the device.
A green investment company submitted a shareholder resolution with Apple in September, requesting that the company reconsider its restrictions on independent repairs. It’s unclear whether the announcement was prompted by shareholder pressure, but an Apple representative told tech website The Verge that the program has been in the works for more than a year. Following shareholder pressure, Microsoft, like Apple, has decided to expand its “right to repair” choices. By 2022, the company has promised to expand consumers’ repair alternatives.
In the United States, dozens of states have considered right-to-repair legislation. In July, US President Joe Biden, who issued an executive order urging the Federal Trade Commission to remove “unfair anti-competitive limitations on third-party repair or self-repair of objects,” backed the “right-to-repair” initiative. The Biden administration is urging the Federal Trade Commission to require businesses to enable customers to hire “independent repair shops” to repair their devices or allow them to do so themselves.