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Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

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Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#71

Post by cheshire_cat »

Closi wrote: post #42
throwk8s wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's incumbent upon Apple to invent a new set of tools for self-service repairs. Assuming these are the tools they actually use, rather than a cumbersome set they invented just to be insufferable, then making the tools available seems like a fair way to (reluctantly) satisfy the right-to-repair demand. I think a better indication of whether they're really honoring the right to repair is if they keep doi…

Agreed - I'm not sure why we assume that a modern smartphone is designed to be completely taken apart and reassembled with a standard toolkit. I've had two third party repairs on my iPhones - one was done with a heat-gun and the finish was awful and the screen popped up in one corner at the end and the metal frame was dented from the pry-tool, and the second shop used a proper heat pad and an assembly tool and the fi…

> Agreed - I'm not sure why we assume that a modern smartphone is designed to be completely taken apart and reassembled with a standard toolkit.

The point is that they chose to do it that way because it makes them more money, not because their technology is too advanced to let the user easily change their battery. If companies designed their product in a way that you can exchange parts that often break (batteries) and make generally easy then we would at least slow down the growth of the e-waste problem.

But of course it's not our problem because we like to externalize the costs. Here in Europe we ship our electronic waste mostly to Africa where it is a huge health hazard.[0]

[0] https://www.spiegel.de/international/tomorrow/electronic-was...

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#72

Post by Aeolun »

isodev wrote: post #56

I really don’t see the problem here - why wouldn’t you want to use the correct tools to repair your iPhone?

I want to buy a $70 battery and be done. The iPhone should be designed to facilitate that.

The outrage is not against these tools. The outrage is against Apple acting like this is a reasonable way to give people the right to repair.

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#73

Post by NovemberWhiskey »

Aeolun wrote: post #65
srvmshr wrote: post #13

If made to fulfill the word of the law without actually having to follow it in spirit, this would be my modus operandi too. By designing $1200 deposit, $49 rental & two Pelican suitcases of tools and manuals, while keeping the battery replacement price same at $69 (what you'd normally pay in total at Store), they have entirely disincentivized self-repair without actually breaking any law. Masterstroke /s

I think the EU is generally better at designing it’s regulations to avoid exactly this problem. Probably something to the extend of “tools to repair must be found in any general DIY store”.

I look forward to seeing the new phones being sold in the EU complete with #0 Pozidriv screws as fasteners; ought to be hilarious.

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#75

Post by draw_down »

Aeolun wrote: post #65
srvmshr wrote: post #13

If made to fulfill the word of the law without actually having to follow it in spirit, this would be my modus operandi too. By designing $1200 deposit, $49 rental & two Pelican suitcases of tools and manuals, while keeping the battery replacement price same at $69 (what you'd normally pay in total at Store), they have entirely disincentivized self-repair without actually breaking any law. Masterstroke /s

I think the EU is generally better at designing it’s regulations to avoid exactly this problem. Probably something to the extend of “tools to repair must be found in any general DIY store”.

[dead]

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#76

Post by Aeolun »

jeroenhd wrote: post #15
quitit wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there would be more controversy if Apple skimped here and only provided an iFixIt style repair kit instead of the legitimate tools that the authorised repairers use. I guess there will always be people to argue both sides of this point. However it seems clear that the shipping would mean Apple is losing money on the transaction.

Controversy was unavoidable when they shipped devices that can't be repaired without these giant kits. This is probably the lesser controversy, though. Reserving the full price of the equipment on the credit card places these repair out of the hands of the people that need affordable repairs the most. I'm also honestly sure that Apple can design better tooling for consumer repair than this, they've solved more diffic…

If the repair cost in-store is the same as the cost of a shipped replacement battery then there was no point to this entire thing in the first place.

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#77

Post by makeitdouble »

Closi wrote: post #42
throwk8s wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's incumbent upon Apple to invent a new set of tools for self-service repairs. Assuming these are the tools they actually use, rather than a cumbersome set they invented just to be insufferable, then making the tools available seems like a fair way to (reluctantly) satisfy the right-to-repair demand. I think a better indication of whether they're really honoring the right to repair is if they keep doi…

Agreed - I'm not sure why we assume that a modern smartphone is designed to be completely taken apart and reassembled with a standard toolkit. I've had two third party repairs on my iPhones - one was done with a heat-gun and the finish was awful and the screen popped up in one corner at the end and the metal frame was dented from the pry-tool, and the second shop used a proper heat pad and an assembly tool and the fi…

Parent commented on the crazy design screws, and I think it’s an important point.

We didn’t end up in the current situation with Apple innocently improving its technology and the lack of repairability being an unexpected side effect of the advancements. They pretty much always straddled the line of making their own repair job doable while having self repairs as hard as possible.

I really don’t think customer safety was their primary motivation.

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#79

Post by Aeolun »

londons_explore wrote: post #16

I actually think this is a great. I like the idea of more 12 year olds getting a chance to peek at the innards of their tech, using the proper kit so they at least have a chance of not ruining everything. While I suspect Apple will lose quite a lot of money on this (these toolboxes will end up with most of the tools missing or broken very quickly!), I think from a global economic perspective, the educational value of…

I do not think a lot of 12 year olds are going to put down a $1200 deposit. Nor will a lot of parents put down a $1200 deposit so their 12 year old can mess with their $1000 phone.

But I dunno… maybe?

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