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Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

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Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but they’re super difficult to use That dude is looking for problem when there's none. He starts off the article with this > For people like me who have little experience repairing electronics, the self-repair setup was so intimidating that I nearly wussed out. Did he expect Ikea like instruction manual to repair an advanced consumer electronic gadgets? That kit is clearly meant for professional (or at the very lea…

> I mean that 75pound repair equipment requiring $1200 hold on a card... How is this legal? Holds ought to be capped at the maximum payable for a transaction.

It's a hold to ensure the rental of very expensive equipment used to perform the repair.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#312
post #294

I dunno, this article reads... strange. I mean yeah, it is nice to be able to open it from front and rear. But what good does it make when they pair every single component to the motherboard? Yeah, technically parts are more accessible (physically) but thats only the beginning of the repair process. And unless you can buy genuine parts without hassle and put them in, you are still SOL. To me it is like cheering that…

I think this is a big deal because far and away, the most common repairs made to iPhones are replacing the front or back.

Exactly and this is why Apple pairs the front part (and various other parts) to the motherboard. To make it easier or something. Got it

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#313
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This exactly. To have a more secure device this is one of the trade offs. Can you imagine the articles if you could swap out faceID systems to unlock an encrypted iphone?

I mean.. they could just show a pop-up after required passcode unlock: ‘your iPhone recently had its FaceID/brightness/battery/whatever swapped - do you wish to fully enable the replacement part for this iPhone?’

because the $badGuy doing the swap could just okay that request

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#314

This has got to be one extremely expensive toolchain and supply chain redesign to do, but since they have done it a few times before (instead of incremental changes) I suppose the money department has worked out when it is feasible to do that kind of thing while keeping the people in charge happy. I'm curious to see if this is a 'test' to see if this doesn't have too many downsides, I imagine ingress area increasing…

I disagree that integrity protection is necessary across many components of the phone. There should be integrity protection on the SoC, and then all other components should be untrusted. Sure, that means someone can proxy the fingerprint sensor or put on a fake screen that shows a fake consent dialogue. But I think that is an acceptable risk - after all, you can never protect against someone making an entirely new de…

> after all, you can never protect against someone making an entirely new device that just happens to look like an iPhone.

The specific threat being protected against (leaving aside the increased safety of iPhone users by making the stolen parts market untenable) is your phone, that you recognize and use as your phone and which contains your confidential material and credentials, having internal components swapped out while unattended.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#315
post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't become a trillion dollar company selling products people don't love.

Correct, companies can only get there with subterfuge and good marketing.

Marketing only works until you get your hands on the product. People love Apple products. No subterfuge required, nor cringeworthy marketing like this: https://9to5mac.com/2022/09/09/samsung-apples-new-iphone-14-...

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#316
post #9

Apple started offering home repair kits for iPhone this year, but they’re super difficult to use: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/technology/personaltech/a... There’s speculation that offering the kits is an attempt to head off right-to-repair legislation. But seeing this redesign, I wonder to what degree the repair program is incentivizing repairability within apple’s corporate structure. Now that “profit/loss pe…

Last time I checked it was not like that - those kits are actually quite easy to use.

The catch is that in order to buy it, you need to give them SN of the device in advance. Meaning you cannot have stock and thus you cannot offer any reasonably fast repair service. And even after that you have to contact their support in order to "pair" the newly installed parts to that device.

Most of the people I know use 3rd party repair shop because they can change battery/screen in 1-2 hours and they will not wipe your data. Apple takes 2 weeks and wipes your phone.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#317
post #294

I dunno, this article reads... strange. I mean yeah, it is nice to be able to open it from front and rear. But what good does it make when they pair every single component to the motherboard? Yeah, technically parts are more accessible (physically) but thats only the beginning of the repair process. And unless you can buy genuine parts without hassle and put them in, you are still SOL. To me it is like cheering that…

Making repairs much easier is still a huge win.

We're also constantly moving the goalposts on Apple. The iPhone 11 had no public repair manuals and only special authorized repair centers could purchase genuine parts or perform the "System Configuration" pairing step.

With the iPhone 12, 13, and SE we suddenly we got public repair manuals[0] and public access to genuine parts[1]. The "System Configuration" step still exists, but it's accessible to anyone and requires chating[2] with Apple/SPOT (their self repair subcontractor).

Now the new iPhone 14 has been expensively re-engineered to make self repair easier. But you're saying because the same self-serve "System Configuration" step is required for some components it's all moot? Let's take a win when we get one. It could still be better, but the trend is definitely moving in the right direction.

edit: Also not all repairs require motherboard pairing step, albeit the most common ones do. But you can replace the iPhone SE camera, taptic engine, SIM tray, and speaker without any System Configuration step. See the the SE repair manual [0].

--

[0] https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/2000/MA2049/en_US/iph...

[1] https://selfservicerepair.com/order

[2] https://selfservicerepair.com/support

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#318

Really happy to see this write up. I’m probably in the tank, but I genuinely believe that Apple strives to do right by its customers, and to be a good company. it’s not a nonprofit, and I don’t expect them to act like one. Sometimes I feel like people enjoy piling on because they are the big dog. Again, please don’t mistake this comment for a blindness to some of its operations. But it’s nice to see them get credit f…

> Apple strives to do right by its customers, and to be a good company Meanwhile, millions of people accidentally turn on iCloud without understanding the consequences, due to Apple’s UI decisions. Apple need to do way more than this to show that they really strive to be good.

So after however many years since iCloud was offered, I finally broke down and decided to subscribe. It's way more than just a switch that can be accidentally flipped. I had to agree to terms (yes, not a show stopper), and I had to authorize payment. Are people as cavalier with authorizing payments as they are to accepting ToS?

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but they’re super difficult to use That dude is looking for problem when there's none. He starts off the article with this > For people like me who have little experience repairing electronics, the self-repair setup was so intimidating that I nearly wussed out. Did he expect Ikea like instruction manual to repair an advanced consumer electronic gadgets? That kit is clearly meant for professional (or at the very lea…

I also found the tone of that article annoying. The author is talking about repairing one of the–if not the– most advanced things ever mass-assembled. No shit, it's not easy.

It's not as hard as you think it is. Apple is indeed massively over complicating the process.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#320
post #310

> Forget satellite SOS and the larger camera, the headline is this: Apple has completely redesigned the internals of the iPhone 14 to make it easier to repair. This made me chuckle. I'm willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of users care far more about the camera than the repairability. The latter is hardly even something they consider. It will probably help them in unseen ways, like improving resale value.

It would matter if it was highlighted. People care about repairability of expensive items. Admittedly, it is a secondary concern, but I would say it is probably the top secondary concern

Is it? Most people that might be concerned just pay for Apple Care, and then let Apple repair it. Only the 1% of people that are techy/nerdy enough to even try this are even bothered by this.
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