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Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

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Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#401

Post by misterprime »

danielheath wrote: post #359
aardvarkr wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They gave him three machines to use for replacing his battery. 1. A machine to melt the glue holding the battery in place 2. A machine to apply even pressure to the new battery to ensure it’s properly adhered 3. A machine to apply heat and even pressure to the entire phone to properly give the phone with a watertight seal. That seems like exactly what I’d expect has to happen to repair the phone back to original spec…

Yeah, but you can do the whole repair without it, if you’re confident that you won’t set the existing battery on fire removing it, and don’t mind some small risk of the new one exploding in your pocket after you sit down, and waterproofing isn’t important to you…

Those are three pretty big "if" statements to get past. Maybe it is OK that some items aren't easily repairable at home.

It would be awesome if Apple also offered a lower cost model with an easily replaceable battery (like an old Android), more easily repairable, and not necessarily water proof. But, if there really was a market for that, some Android manufacturer would have something for it. Maybe there is one and I haven't looked.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#402

Post by hot_gril »

dkonofalski wrote: post #386
hot_gril wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A swap sounds like it'd cost them more than it costs Apple to repair it.

Not if they're swapping with a machine that they refurbished. They can keep swapping them ad infinitum. That's what Asurion does with cell phone warranty claims. You pay a $150 deductible and you get a refurbished phone in exchange. They fix the part that was broken on your phone that you're returning to them and it gets refurbed to the next person.

That just makes it faster. They still have to repair it either way.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#403

Post by wrycoder »

_V_ wrote: post #387
sangnoir wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

You don't really need their toolkit to make the repair - most of the repair shops has the necessary tools already available for other phones. The basic process of opening/closing any moder phone is basically the same.

It's not so much opening it, it's holding the back while you use heat and force to excavate the battery from the backshell. Apple appears to have fixed that issue with the iPhone 14.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#404

Post by hot_gril »

frio wrote: post #375
hot_gril wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A secondary concern is resale value. Repairability isn't even that. To put it one way, even if you could repair an iPhone with legos, I think it'd sway few to zero buyers from an alternative.

While I somewhat agree, the big repair that most people are going to want to do pre- or post- sale is replacing the battery. If that's something that anyone can do now, it'll improve resale value.

I used to think this, but then all the Android phone-makers that used to tout user-removable batteries started gluing them in like Apple does, which sounded like the market speaking.

Maybe it's not all that hard to replace the glued-in batteries anyway. Seems every mall has two tiny mid-hallway shops that can do it.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#405

Post by _V_ »

wrycoder wrote: post #403
_V_ wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't really need their toolkit to make the repair - most of the repair shops has the necessary tools already available for other phones. The basic process of opening/closing any moder phone is basically the same.

It's not so much opening it, it's holding the back while you use heat and force to excavate the battery from the backshell. Apple appears to have fixed that issue with the iPhone 14.

iPhones had adhesive pull tabs for years now. You really did not need heat and force for that unless you ripped it.

And even if you did rip those tabs IPA does much better job of un-adhering the battery as you really don't want to use excessive force on lithium pouch cells unless you like your repair job to get "fast & furious" :-)

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#406

Post by sfvegandude »

jitl wrote: 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…

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.

This comment, and those like it, are proof to me that there’s a large contingent of folks who don’t actually care about the repairability of iPhones, they just want to take shots at BigCos.

So it’s not enough that Apple is doing what y’all asked for. It has to be for the right reasons, too. Anything less than ideological purity —- to be defined and re-defined endlessly —- no sale.

That’s a fine take in itself, but I’d wish we could dispense with the disingenuousness once and for all.

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#408

Post by InTheArena »

jitl wrote: 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…

If it were - wouldn't apple be trumpeting these changes?

Re: Apple’s iPhone 14 Redesign for Repair

#409

Post by wrycoder »

_V_ wrote: post #405
wrycoder wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not so much opening it, it's holding the back while you use heat and force to excavate the battery from the backshell. Apple appears to have fixed that issue with the iPhone 14.

iPhones had adhesive pull tabs for years now. You really did not need heat and force for that unless you ripped it. And even if you did rip those tabs IPA does much better job of un-adhering the battery as you really don't want to use excessive force on lithium pouch cells unless you like your repair job to get "fast & furious" :-)

Well, I've done several, and one of the pull tabs generally breaks no matter how slow and careful you are. Then, it's on to reheating everything and dragging a monofilament under the battery. Without a vacuum hold-down stage, it is difficult and annoying. I don't recollect iFixit recommending IPA, does that work?
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