Apple will open iPhone self-repair program to allow used parts

Apple also has protections in place to prevent used parts from stolen iPhones from being used.

Apple will open iPhone self-repair program to allow used parts

Key Takeaways

  • Used parts can now be used for iPhone 15 repairs, expandable to batteries, cameras, and displays, with plans for Face ID sensors in the future.
  • Apple defends "parts pairing" to authenticate and calibrate devices, citing the need to combat counterfeit components effectively.
  • The shift towards self-repair could be a response to increasing government scrutiny and regulation, as seen with right-to-repair bills and antitrust lawsuits.

Beginning this fall, customers and independent repair shops will be able to use more used parts when conducting their own iPhone repairs, Apple has announced. To date the company has limited the implementation of used parts to ones that don't require any configuration, such as buttons. Under the new scheme, more advanced components such as batteries, cameras, and even displays will be sourceable from used iPhones, though Apple itself will only continue to sell new parts.

Apple will open iPhone self-repair program to allow used parts

There are some other important catches, the biggest being that the expansion will be limited to the iPhone 15 lineup at first, even with the iPhone 16 expected to ship in September. Likewise, people wil have to wait a while before they can implement used Face ID sensors, although plans to support them are underway.

Apple continues to defend its reliance on "parts pairing," i.e. requiring authenticated parts. "'Parts pairing’ is used a lot outside and has this negative connotation," John Ternus, the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering, told TechCrunch. "I think it’s led people to believe that we somehow block third-party parts from working, which we don’t. The way we look at it is, we need to know what part is in the device, for a few reasons. One, we need to authenticate that it’s a real Apple biometric device and that it hasn’t been spoofed or something like that. … Calibration is the other one."

Apple will open iPhone self-repair program to allow used parts

Why is Apple changing its self-repair program?

The decision to open up iPhone repairs could be connected to growing government scrutiny and regulation of Apple's practices in the US. Oregon, for instance, recently passed a right-to-repair bill which Apple publicly supported except for a parts pairing clause. States like California and New York have brought forward similar right-to-repair measures. At the federal level, the company is facing an antitrust lawsuit brought by the US Department of Justice — repairs aren't a part of that case, but Apple may be eager to reduce any appearance of a monopoly. It has already made dramatic changes to comply with European Union law, such as dropping Lightning connectors in favor of USB-C.

Ternus insists that today's announcement is independent of these concerns, the culmination of two years of work behind the scenes. "We want to make things more repairable, so we’re doing that work anyway," he said. Indeed 2022's iPhone 14 was easier to repair than its predecessors.

Today's news also includes tighter restrictions related to Activation Lock, however. If an iPhone undergoing repairs detects a part from a device that had either Activation Lock or Lost Mode enabled, calibration functions will be limited. The change is meant to deter people from using stolen iPhones for parts, a possibility with the risk of worsening an already serious black market.

Понравилась статья? Поделиться с друзьями:
Добавить комментарий

;-) :| :x :twisted: :smile: :shock: :sad: :roll: :razz: :oops: :o :mrgreen: :lol: :idea: :grin: :evil: :cry: :cool: :arrow: :???: :?: :!: