iPhone 13 teardown and repair assessment [video]

You should not be torn. Apple is blatantly acting against your interests as a user, and you should be adamantly against this. You always need to place some level of trust in anyone you're allowing to repair your device -- even if they're using genuine Apple parts, they might not know how to properly work with them, for example. But this is why we have reviews. (By the way, they would be more likely to know how to do proper repairs if Apple freely published the top-secret internal repair documentation they already have, so they could just use that instead of random third-party guides, but that's another topic.) As a user, you should always have the choice of who to trust with your device's repair, just like you have a choice between mechanics working on your car. As a reminder, if you don't trust third party repair shops, right to repair laws don't force anyone to make use of them. You're free to be overcharged by Apple if you want. But it's important to have a choice.

Also, theft is not a problem that you can solve with software. People will always steal iPhones because there will always be at least some value to the components inside. I guarantee you that iCloud locking was not even a factor in the decision Apple made to implement this bullshit into iOS:

    if (camera.serialNumber != mainboard.camera.serialNumber) {
        freakTheFuckOutForNoReason()
    }

The only factor in this decision was most likely Apple's relentless, unending quest to acquire as many US dollars as possible, despite already having ~200 billion of them reserved [1].

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/27/apple-q1-cash-hoard-heres-ho...

What happens when Apple decides overnight to increase the price by a factor of 5? When you can't go anywhere but Apple for repair, whether or not you are overcharged is entirely Apple's decision. When you have actual choices, and actual competition to Apple's repair services, like you obviously should, it's not possible for Apple to do this.

> Replacement parts _never_ brick the phone.

Bricking Face ID is essentially bricking the phone if it doesn't have fingerprint unlock. Everyone is accustomed to instant unlock these days (since the iPhone 5S of 2013). The camera "bugging out" is also absurd and clearly fabricated by iOS. There is absolutely no reason this should happen just because the serial number of the camera changed. iOS isn't open source so we can't track down their `fakeBugOutToScareUserAwayFromIndependentRepair()` function, but hopefully someone reverse engineers this eventually. It wouldn't be the first time someone found something "funny" hidden within iOS' codebase [1].

> The FaceID one seems legitimate as a malicious faceid sensor could compromise security

This is an irrational fear. Do not let Apple scare you into believing this.

> The problem is not you knowingly putting in a non genuine part. It's that a disappointing chunk of repair stalls and almost all online parts are non genuine and essentially fraud as they advertise as being genuine and better than the original parts.

This is not a problem Apple can solve. There will always be liars. You must place a little trust in the person you buy a used product from; it's that simple. It's how it always has been, and always will be. Besides, if solving this problem were their real goal, why not just display warnings rather than also disable features, and only do so if the parts really aren't Apple-genuine (not just if the serial number has changed)? I am certain it would not be hard to change the code from:

    if (camera.serialNumber != mainboard.camera.serialNumber) {
        displayAnnoyingWarnings();
        fakeBugOutToScareUserAwayFromIndependentRepair();
    }

to:

    if (!isGenuineApple(camera.serialNumber)) {
        displayDismissableWarning();
    }

Finally, why do you think this situation would not change for the better if Apple were forced to start selling replacements to everyone? I imagine the reason mostly non-genuine parts are sold online (if that is indeed true) is because it's really hard to access genuine parts.

Before Apple introduced this "feature", things were mostly just fine. Android phones probably won't ever have this "feature", and things will probably still mostly be just fine long into the future. Of course there will be some instances of scams and whatnot. This is not news.

> It also protects the phone owner by making theft less valuable as the parts can not be used to their fullest.

Theft is another problem Apple cannot solve with software updates. iPhones will always be stolen, because the parts inside will always have intrinsic value. This "feature" is so vaguely connected to anti-theft that it's laughable, and I don't even know if Apple themselves claim this as a reason behind these changes; I've only heard it from Apple apologists. iCloud locks are already overkill and generate tons of e-waste, but this takes it even further and is just absurd.

> I'd like to see Apple and governments work together

Apple already does work with the government. They actively lobby against right to repair and report you to the police when your iPhone scans through your photos and finds something suspicious.

> I'd like to see Apple have some open dialog with the public and governments about exactly _why_ each restriction is in place

That might be a start, but you can be reasonably confident anything coming from Apple's PR team is total bullshit. If the real reason was that they just want to make a lot of money, do you really think they would tell you?

[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/11/apple-settles-wi...

> you can't chop-shop any of the expensive parts because they're all cryptographically registered

They're not cryptographically registered. iOS does a simple check to see if the serial numbers of the installed parts match the expected original values. Also, you can still sell them, and you would not have a hard time finding a buyer, because they're still intrinsically valuable parts and can still be used (with some annoyances). Anyhow, I'm sure someone will reverse engineer the system well enough to reprogram the serial numbers without Apple's assistance eventually. I can't wait -- the writeup will probably be a fascinating read, and it will provide users more control over their own devices, which is always a good thing. Same reason it made me very happy when it was discovered that Apple dun goofed and let an unpatchable bootrom bug slip into all iPhones from 5S through X, which means these phones are forever jailbreakable: https://checkra.in/