Apple Fighting Secret War To Keep You From Repairing Your Phone

Megalith

Megalith

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Has Apple opposed legislation that would let you rescue your devices and keep them longer? Experts say yes. While the Cupertino company is singled out here, it should be noted that all manufacturers are against this kind of thing, as in-house repairs can be a significant source of revenue.

Apple spent nearly 10 minutes trumpeting green initiatives, including Liam, at the beginning of a March 2016 keynote event. But it has repeatedly opposed “right to repair” legislation in the United States. It opposed such a proposal in Massachusetts, state Rep. Claire D. Cronin told HuffPost, and the company lobbied on another version of New York’s amendment last year. Cronin, a co-sponsor of the Massachusetts right to repair amendment, told HuffPost her concern is that manufacturers have too much power. They oppose the legislation because they make money repairing devices.
 
No real surprise here. Look at Apple's last few years of devices - no user serviceable parts. Want to add memory, replace a hard drive, etc in your computer? Too bad. Want to try to repair something on your iOS device? Really? It's very difficult and voids your warranty.
Supporting legislation is really taking it far. They already made it damned difficult, if not impossible, so do they even need to go this far?
 
I wonder why this shocks people still. This is the game, the end all goal for every corporation. To be big enough to be able to piss in the face of consumers and get away with it. You need to buy a new iphone every 12-18 months, don't you get it? And they're made of cheap Chinese parts that last well right around that long. If they'd break earlier they'd have to replace them in warranty. (I wonder when will they start to lobby to reduce the required warranty time) if they'd last longer you wouldn't throw money at them if you're a normal human being not jerking off to the newest crap. So it's their worst nightmare if you're able to repair the phone after it's out of warranty.
 
Just like in the desktop space, and slightly more recently in the laptop/portable space, there will come a time when the devices most people use have ''good enough'' performance for their day2day tasks and it will be allot harder to get them upgrade for any reason beyond device failure. For me personally this has already happened for my 'smart phone.'

Due to my ''oneness'' with my desktop I don't see this happening here anytime soon.
 
Theres nothing that Apple can do to an individual if they chose to repair the device themselves. Apple doesn't have support it, but if a company were to profit off of a repair of said device they could take legal action against someone claiming to be a repair expert on their device.

Funny enough I've had a much easier time (and cheaper) replacing iPhone batteries the last few years over certain Android phones.
 
The ability to not being able to have the right to repair anything you buy is in a word unamerican. We have a long and storied culture in this country of being and having some of doing some of the best repair work on anything in the world. Not having a right to repair won't just stop at electronics. It will migrate to everything, your washer, your dryer, your watch, your car, you name it. In fact, this will trickle down to property rights in the end. If you can't repair anything you own, then you really don't own it. In reality, you will simply be leasing it and that's the way things are going. If I am not allowed to repair something I spend my money on and requires repair of some kind, but I'm told that simply the act of opening it up is a violation of TOS/EULA or whatever bullshit manufacturers come up with, then I am in effect, not the true owner of the product. How far will this go down the rabbit hole?

Look, I have designed and engineered all kinds of products in my 25 year career. Most of the stuff I've made you will never see or use. The idea that what I am making and having people buy it but never really own it or can repair it just chaps my ass more than even Louis Rossman's sentiment. The right to repair is such a foreign concept that I'm amazed we are even discussing it, but I cause the corporate state we belong in now is driving a lot of this. Think about it, I could potentially be a criminal if I try to fix what I own or think I own. In fact, I may not even own it, therefore I may not be allowed to fix it. Ridiculous on it's face and should never be allowed to happen.
 
I've had two screens replaced on Apple devices and the quality of the replacement screen was diminished from the original in some way. Either in texture or in operation. As a company that claims to be of the highest quality I could see where having low quality 3rd party parts out in the wild could be undesirable.

Methadras said:
Think about it, I could potentially be a criminal if I try to fix what I own or think I own. In fact, I may not even own it, therefore I may not be allowed to fix it. Ridiculous on it's face and should never be allowed to happen.
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I don't think it would be illegal, but it would definitely be grounds for them to surrender any obligation for warranty or service. This is pretty common across many industries.
 
Methadras said:
The ability to not being able to have the right to repair anything you buy is in a word unamerican. We have a long and storied culture in this country of being and having some of doing some of the best repair work on anything in the world. Not having a right to repair won't just stop at electronics. It will migrate to everything, your washer, your dryer, your watch, your car, you name it. In fact, this will trickle down to property rights in the end. If you can't repair anything you own, then you really don't own it. In reality, you will simply be leasing it and that's the way things are going. If I am not allowed to repair something I spend my money on and requires repair of some kind, but I'm told that simply the act of opening it up is a violation of TOS/EULA or whatever bullshit manufacturers come up with, then I am in effect, not the true owner of the product. How far will this go down the rabbit hole?
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This man gets it. Unfortunately the vast majority of sheeple simply don't care. Its sad but true. As long as joe 6-pack can continue to exist in a consumeristic way and things are cheap to buy then why should he care? FWIW I get it and vote with my $$$ Quality over cheap crap. If something can be repaired then great, if not replace it with something that can in the future. Folks often don't think that way these days and I get lots of strange looks when I voice my opinion on how this has silently become normative.
 
Rustynuts said:
Fuck Apple. I hate them almost as much as Dyson.
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We have had a Dyson Vaccum for 7 years now. It's used 2-3 times a week. Parts are easy to replace and it's easy to clean. It's had to be repaired once but the warranty covered it. Warranty is 5 years which is better than most out there. They look flimsy but I can assure you they are just as sturdy as others on the market.
 
csgill75 said:
We have had a Dyson Vaccum for 7 years now. It's used 2-3 times a week. Parts are easy to replace and it's easy to clean. It's had to be repaired once but the warranty covered it. Warranty is 5 years which is better than most out there. They look flimsy but I can assure you they are just as sturdy as others on the market.
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We had a Dyson that my son stuck a toy in the intake tube which obliterated the impeller the next time I turned it on. So I found it to be an oversight that they did not have a filter or screen of some kind on the intake tube. However, the user experience with it was great. I never had to touch anything dirty to empty the canister and the brush pulled out for fully removing any hair or string wrapped around it. We went through several vacuums in the $70-150 after that and eventually settled on a Shark vacuum. It's about 90% of the ease of use at 1/4 the price. But it is not totally a replacement for a Dyson. I won't spend that kind of money again, but it was a nice vacuum that I do miss features on.
 
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