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Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

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Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#331
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…

I don't think those really relate to each other that way. The lead time and design time for a complex device, especially one with such high vertical integration is much longer than the whole debate on repairs has gone public.

Switching a product from a front-to-back stack to a mid frame design with nearly no interchangeable structures between those designs takes multiple years.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

I think you’re confusing iCloud and iCloud+. The former doesn’t require payment.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#333

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.

What's the problem if you intend to return it?

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#334
post #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…

I'm not moving goalposts at all. All I'd want is a way to get most of the parts from OEM & be able to install them. At the very least I'd expect to be able to swap: 1) Battery (consumable) 2) Front (LCD) 3) Back (either just the glass or the whole frame)

But we have to be honest with ourselves here: what good is it to have a repair manual when you cannot buy genuine parts? I mean yeah, this is a small-ish win, but it will not help to say it is "good enough". Sorry, but that is just not good enough.

The thing that pisses me the most is that I genuinely think that iPhones are amazing phones. They are quite nicely engineered and they easily could last you 5-8 years. Why put so much engineering effort to artificially cripple the device? Most of us will buy the new model anyway. And those who cannot (or don't want) should be able to keep theirs for as long as possible. It seems wastefull and unnecessary to fight it.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ou…

It is indeed a protection against evil maid attacks as well as the industrialised version of shipment interception.

It's probably also some form of PR and brand protection, and part of platform security as a whole.

I doubt that any commercial company would find the side-effect of less end-user tampering a true downside; if the device says "I have been tampered with", that's a very clear signal that someone coming in for some warranty repair has some explaining to do.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#336
post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do their actions affect you as an Android user?

Easily, Apple and Google collude to maintain dominance in the mobile OS markets and leverage that duopoly to dominate other markets like mobile app distribution and mobile app payments. Google's app payments policy is now nearly identical to Apple's, you must use their payment platform to distribute apps on their app store. Just like Apple's policy to prevent competition in the mobile app payments market prevents app…

>Apple and Google collude

Citation needed.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AppleCare has always been a loss for Apple. The entire repair division is a loss for them. They don't make a profit from repairs. This update is partially marketing spin but, for a lot of users, it was worth buying before and is now even more of a value. If you look at the things that Apple prioritizes, they want to disincentivize self-repair because any quality variations reflect on them whether they did the repair…

Do you have a source for this? AppleCare+ for a MacBook Air is $250. You can get a 4 year 3rd party extended warranty for a similarly priced laptop off Amazon for $170. Presumably they make money off this but don't have advantages that Apple does like at cost repair parts. Are Apple products such garbage or so hard to repair that shorter more expensive warranties lose money? Seriously?

Yes. You can look at every earnings statement they've released for the last 10 years or so. There are also articles that made a stink about it a while ago. Here's one but there are plenty more like it: https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/11/20/apple-says-repair...

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AppleCare has always been a loss for Apple. The entire repair division is a loss for them. They don't make a profit from repairs. This update is partially marketing spin but, for a lot of users, it was worth buying before and is now even more of a value. If you look at the things that Apple prioritizes, they want to disincentivize self-repair because any quality variations reflect on them whether they did the repair…

I don't buy that Apple repairs are a loss given that third-party repairs can still be profitable at lower prices, but even if they are, it doesn't mean AppleCare is a loss vs making users pay per repair.

Here you go: https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/11/20/apple-says-repair...

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AppleCare has always been a loss for Apple. The entire repair division is a loss for them. They don't make a profit from repairs. This update is partially marketing spin but, for a lot of users, it was worth buying before and is now even more of a value. If you look at the things that Apple prioritizes, they want to disincentivize self-repair because any quality variations reflect on them whether they did the repair…

Do you have a source for this? AppleCare+ for a MacBook Air is $250. You can get a 4 year 3rd party extended warranty for a similarly priced laptop off Amazon for $170. Presumably they make money off this but don't have advantages that Apple does like at cost repair parts. Are Apple products such garbage or so hard to repair that shorter more expensive warranties lose money? Seriously?

3rd party extended warranties don't work the same way as the repair program. With a 3rd party warranty, they don't have to fix it with an equal part and they can also swap out the machine for a refurbished one.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dropping devices on concrete is not "daily use". That's like saying that people should expect cars to be unaffected by randomly crashing into walls.

That's fair - but "the rigors of daily use" as parent post wrote absolutely include resilience and resistance to physical damage if/when a fall happens. I agree dropping a phone every day is not accurate, but the risk exists with "the rigors of daily use".

Well, anecdotally, I've had every other iPhone since the original and use it daily and have never had it break or otherwise needed to replace/repair it. People who use terms like "rigors of daily use" typically always mean wanton abuse.
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