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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

#451

Post by [deleted] »

wrycoder wrote: post #416
salawat wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are correct. without datasheets, you have no way to even approach reprogramming a computer system. Those datasheets, schemata, and documentation are some of the closest, most tightly held trade secrets in the tech world. Increasingly, the world has gotten away from "sell thing to owner to own" to "sell hook for revenue extraction from User". part of which has also increasingly been "be the unofficial or unnoticed…

And that’s the reason to continue to grow the FLOSS / Open Hardware ecosystem. You don’t have to program or fix stuff yourself. But you should be able to hire your local shop to do it for you at reasonable expense and to keep your old, but good, stuff running as long as you like. While flip phones are disposable are their price point, that’s not true for hardware like smart phones or beyond. We need better, sustainab…

[deleted]

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

#452

Post by zouhair »

wfhordie wrote: post #93

Apple can’t win here. If they had sent the sleek, easy to carry tools this author asked for, the author would complain about the pathetic tools they are providing. Really disappointed in The Verge on this article. Could have been a cool piece about the specific tech that Apple provides, but instead it’s framed so disingenuously that I come away not feeling particularly good about right to repair in general. It no lon…

> Apple can’t win here.

This assumes iPhones just happen to be the way they are. The need of this extravagant display is because of how iPhones were engineered in the first place.

They were engineered to be hard to repair, that's the whole point.

Apple and any other company need to stop making products that are hard to repair, they need to be forced to do so otherwise they will most likely never do it willingly.

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

#453

Post by neuralRiot »

arcticbull wrote: post #348
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I view this differently. This article is documenting a process people are surely curious about. But the costly deposit and multiple heavy pelican cases of supplies show just how deep the hole Apple has dug for themselves really is. Apple is so anti-repair they have no provisions for a reasonable at home process. You must realize that a $1200 deposit alone means this process is out of reach of many people. Meanwhile I…

They don't force you into the tools, the deposit or anything else - they offer you parts at the same prices they offer to third-party service providers and Apple stores. They even offer you credit for returning the old parts. If have your own iFixit kit, the only thing you're on the hook for is parts cost. Access to the tools for what is likely at-cost shipping prices seems like an above-and-beyond thing to me that t…

I always say the same, people wants 2022 tech with the simplicity of 1980s tech. You’re holding more computing power in your pocket than the one that brought apollo to the moon and yet want servicing it to be as simple as undoing 4 screws.

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

#454

Post by losvedir »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #387
arcticbull wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't force you into the tools, the deposit or anything else - they offer you parts at the same prices they offer to third-party service providers and Apple stores. They even offer you credit for returning the old parts. If have your own iFixit kit, the only thing you're on the hook for is parts cost. Access to the tools for what is likely at-cost shipping prices seems like an above-and-beyond thing to me that t…

Considering that batteries still only last about a day and Apple led this shift to non-user-swappable batteries they still deserve some blame for landfill culture. Most of their efforts around repair appear to be the minimum anyone motivated by new sales would do once faced with looming regulation. Even if at cost the extreme sophistication and complexity of such tools reinforces the point that these devices aren't r…

> Considering that batteries still only last about a day and Apple led this shift to non-user-swappable batteries they still deserve some blame for landfill culture.

I disagree. I think you're conflating home user repairability with longevity of the device. Just because the user can't repair it at home doesn't mean it goes in the garbage. More realistically a broken phone will be traded in, Apple will repair it, and it will be sold refurbished. Apple phones hold their value very well, and there is a booming second-hand market, even including officially by Apple.

I wouldn't be surprised if the average lifetime of an Apple phone exceeded that of even a "repair friendly" Android phone. I'd love to see data on that either way, but until we have it, you can't say whether the design of Apple phones contributes to landfill culture or not.

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

#455

Post by nasmorn »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #400
jeffbee wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The facts aren't really on your side of the argument. The glued-together Apple phones are the ones least likely to be in the trash. They are still shipping the latest software on phones from 2015. By contrast, removable-battery phones are all garbage practically as soon as you open the box. The Samsung XCover is only 2 years old, might not even get Android 12, and definitely will never get anything after Android 12.

Imagine a world in which iphones still had user swappable batteries. They would almost certainly retain their appeal and fewer would end up in landfills. The fact that they've become a luxury brand is a compounding factor you cannot dismiss. You're comparing apples to oranges.

I have had batteries replaced by random repair shops for 40 euros before. If I could have done it for 20 in parts how does that change the calculus compared to a new phone?

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

#456

Post by deschutes »

snowwrestler wrote: post #244
ornornor wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not having easily replaceable batteries (and pardon me but I don’t consider requiring 79 lbs of equipment and a 1200$ deposit “easy”) in modern phones is akin to selling cars with the tires welded on. It is ridiculous, consumer hostile, and wasteful. Batteries are consumable, they should not be a reason to throw the phone away once they stopped working. You don’t throw your house away when the garbage bag is full or…

Whoa whoa hold on. You can pay Apple to replace your battery. That’s been true for years. I’ve done it with multiple phones. We just had Apple replace the battery in my wife’s iPhone SE (the original version) and it’s working great. The metaphorical tires are not welded on; you can keep an old phone going with a new battery. But just like tires, if you insist on doing the work yourself , you’re going to need some spe…

Personally I've needed lots of batteries replaced and lost 1 phone to water damage. It's not at all clear to me that hermetic phone designs are the right tradeoff from a utilitarian perspective. On the other hand, if utilitarian phones sold better somebody would be making them.

Tires have obvious engineering constraints that presumably led to the current approach. Maybe a bit of path dependence as well. It's completely incomparable.

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

#457

Post by bsder »

sokoloff wrote: post #331
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I view this differently. This article is documenting a process people are surely curious about. But the costly deposit and multiple heavy pelican cases of supplies show just how deep the hole Apple has dug for themselves really is. Apple is so anti-repair they have no provisions for a reasonable at home process. You must realize that a $1200 deposit alone means this process is out of reach of many people. Meanwhile I…

You have a storage bin holding old smartphones with readily replaceable batteries. That suggests to me that readily replaceable batteries isn't anywhere near the entire story in terms of keeping phones out the landfill (or in your case, a storage bin).

Part of the issue with old smartphones and batteries is that every battery is a snowflake so eventually nobody is willing to produce the replacement battery anymore.

Contrast this to car batteries where the form factor is specified within certain limits.

This is, unfortunately, a point where the law probably has to step in and say "battery replacements must be available for 20 years" which would make it unpalatable to be a snowflake anymore. At that point, the suppliers would get together and agree on a "standard" battery form factor.

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

#458

Post by Teever »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #228
canuckintime wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't 'conveniently' forget; it's mentioned and accounted for in the article: > $49 to rent Apple’s tools for a week, more than wiping out any refund I might get for returning the old used part.

It's $49 to have Apple ship two Pelican cases of tools to you, to have you use them for the week, then to ship them back to Apple and (presumably) to have someone inventory them to make sure there's nothing missing and that they're reading to ship out to the next person. You think Apple is making money on that?

No, I think Apple is making money in slow-walking an actual, practical repair program and if we lived in a society with proper regulatory bodies they would get their hand slapped so hard for doing so.

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

#459

Post by zootboy »

neuralRiot wrote: post #453
arcticbull wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't force you into the tools, the deposit or anything else - they offer you parts at the same prices they offer to third-party service providers and Apple stores. They even offer you credit for returning the old parts. If have your own iFixit kit, the only thing you're on the hook for is parts cost. Access to the tools for what is likely at-cost shipping prices seems like an above-and-beyond thing to me that t…

I always say the same, people wants 2022 tech with the simplicity of 1980s tech. You’re holding more computing power in your pocket than the one that brought apollo to the moon and yet want servicing it to be as simple as undoing 4 screws.

Yes, I want that. I don't really see how increased computational power should make a device impossible to hold together with 4 screws.

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

#460

Post by nemothekid »

ASalazarMX wrote: post #417
saagarjha wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Considering that batteries still only last about a day and Apple led this shift to non-user-swappable batteries they still deserve some blame for landfill culture. Sure, but it seems like this makes phones thinner and lighter and consumers want that. It "sucks" that Apple gave them that option and they went for it, but I don't consider this to be inherently malicious. > Even if at cost the extreme sophistication an…

> Sure, but it seems like this makes phones thinner and lighter and consumers want that Or Apple devices are also a tech fashion statement, so their loyal consumers will put up with everything Apple changes. iPhones could show off their sleek design if they weren't designed to need a case. People definitely wanted bigger screens and batteries for years, and Apple was very reluctant until the iPhone 10. I'm sure many…

>Or Apple devices are also a tech fashion statement, so their loyal consumers will put up with everything Apple changes.

This argument is tired; it doesn't explain why every other manufacturer on the planet has also gone down this route. It's just an argument that helps nerds feel good (those other guys aren't real techies, like me, they only care about fashion).

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