Apple accelerates eco progress with highest-ever recycled materials • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple accelerates eco progress with highest-ever recycled materials

#21

Post by bombcar » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 1:43 PM UTC

tasoeur wrote: post #9

I really appreciate their effort to go towards more recycling, but to me a lot of this is completely moot as long as they don’t provide a stronger incentive to surrender your old devices for recycling. It’s actually really simple to reach $0 trade-in value due to absolutely silly things like a scratched display. Why would I be giving you back my iPhone for free when even glass bottles are $0.5 when recommissioned…

Since they offer the EDU discount they might as well offer a blanket “it boots get $100 off” deal for returned machines.

Though the cost of responsibly recycle and dispose of an old computer might make the $0 offer actually a decent one.

Re: Apple accelerates eco progress with highest-ever recycled materials

#22

Post by markstos » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 1:44 PM UTC

robertjpayne wrote: post #18

markstos wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the company that popularized completely unrepairable earbuds with non-replaceable batteries.

What other company has ever sold wireless earbuds with a replaceable battery?

Fairphone. https://www.fairphone.com/fairbuds

Re: Apple accelerates eco progress with highest-ever recycled materials

#23

Post by Tade0 » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 1:45 PM UTC

latexr wrote: post #10

neya wrote: post #6

Can we stop posting Apple's PR pieces here? Everyone knows they score the lowest on repairability so this really means shit.

> Everyone knows they score the lowest on repairability Tell that to iFixit. https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/smartphone-repairabilit... I’d trust their assessment more than a vague “everyone knows”. There’s nothing “everyone knows”. Should Apple be better at repairability? Absolutely! But let’s criticise accurately and in good faith. When we don’t, points are easily dismissed and no one takes the valid parts ser…

> But let’s criticise accurately and in good faith.

Apple pioneered some huge anti-repairability measures like e.g. soldered-in RAM.

Wasn't always that way though. I recall repairing a late 2011 MBP, so contemporary to the first soldered MBAs. Really easy to work on, with the battery held in place with just two triangular screws. That was four years ago and the user is still using it.

Re: Apple accelerates eco progress with highest-ever recycled materials

#24

Post by gautier_ » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 1:45 PM UTC

robertjpayne wrote: post #18

markstos wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the company that popularized completely unrepairable earbuds with non-replaceable batteries.

What other company has ever sold wireless earbuds with a replaceable battery?

Fairphone has the Fairbuds

Re: Apple accelerates eco progress with highest-ever recycled materials

#25

Post by iwontberude » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 1:45 PM UTC

neya wrote: post #6

Can we stop posting Apple's PR pieces here? Everyone knows they score the lowest on repairability so this really means shit.

If I never have to open it up and repair it before it’s genuinely obsolete, then repairability is much less important to me. Part of why I buy Apple products for decades is that they seemingly never break and I take good care of my stuff. I don’t even bother getting AppleCare anymore because I never end up using it.

Re: Apple accelerates eco progress with highest-ever recycled materials

#26

Post by dangus » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 1:45 PM UTC

Framework is the industry benchmark. To me, anyone doing anything less than full modularity doesn’t actually care about e-waste.

Framework has proven that it is possible to make a great machine that is modular as well as forward and backward compatible, and they’ve done it with a comparatively tiny group of employees.

Same deal with Fairphone. Apple can brag about sustainability the day they ship a phone, wireless earbuds, or smartwatch with a battery that the user can replace with a basic screwdriver or less.

If tiny companies like Fairphone and Framework can manage to put out products like this, imagine what a company with the kind of resources Apple has could do with the same concept.

Re: Apple accelerates eco progress with highest-ever recycled materials

#27

Post by bdcravens » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 1:47 PM UTC

latexr wrote: post #10

neya wrote: post #6

Can we stop posting Apple's PR pieces here? Everyone knows they score the lowest on repairability so this really means shit.

> Everyone knows they score the lowest on repairability Tell that to iFixit. https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/smartphone-repairabilit... I’d trust their assessment more than a vague “everyone knows”. There’s nothing “everyone knows”. Should Apple be better at repairability? Absolutely! But let’s criticise accurately and in good faith. When we don’t, points are easily dismissed and no one takes the valid parts ser…

In doing an "everyone knows" assessment, you should analyze iFixit scores over time, which is what reputation is built on, rather than a point in time. Additionally, we're talking about Apple as a whole, not just one product. They've had several Macbooks that had scores of 1/10, and the Airpods received a 0/10. Even a recent iPhone had its score reduced from a 7/10 down to a 4:

https://www.ifixit.com/News/82493/we-are-retroactively-dropp...

(I'm a happy Apple user across all of their products, but I have no illusion that they're easily repairable)

Re: Apple accelerates eco progress with highest-ever recycled materials

#28

Post by markstos » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

vrganj wrote: post #11

This sounds like classic greenwashing PR.

Also, at a moment when "AI" appears in practically all tech marketing, in this environmental impact report they manage to not mention at all the impact of their ChatGPT integration or their plans for an upgraded Siri.

Re: Apple accelerates eco progress with highest-ever recycled materials

#29

Post by bzzzt » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

alexandrehtrb wrote: post #19

How about stop making planned obsolence products? How about not charging outrageous prices when their computers need repair?

There's nothing wrong with planning for a certain device lifespan, provided it's long enough. But there's a bell curve here: it doesn't make sense to plan for 20 years of support if 99% of the devices are broken or replaced by their users by then.

Also, Apple repair prices are high, but not outrageous. There will always be someone claiming they can do it for less, but not many that will give the same guarantees Apple does.

Re: Apple accelerates eco progress with highest-ever recycled materials

#30

Post by AdamN » Thu, Apr 16, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

neya wrote: post #15

latexr wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone knows they score the lowest on repairability Tell that to iFixit. https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/smartphone-repairabilit... I’d trust their assessment more than a vague “everyone knows”. There’s nothing “everyone knows”. Should Apple be better at repairability? Absolutely! But let’s criticise accurately and in good faith. When we don’t, points are easily dismissed and no one takes the valid parts ser…

I'm confused. In the link you shared: iPhone Air - 7/10 (Provisional) iPhone 17 Pro - 7/10 (Provisional) Fairphone 6 - 10/10 HMD Fusion/Skyline - 9/10 > But let’s criticise accurately and in good faith. Isn't that what the scores above tell (which I brought up in my original comment)? Plus, this is only for their smartphone line up. What about their headphones and other products? Airpods Pro Max is a 6/10, for exampl…

How do those numbers look with similar products from Huawei, Samsung, etc...? Fairphone/HMD are competitors focused on repairability above other factors so it's not really a fair comparison.