[krtkush]

> but the costs of the tools are prohibitive.

A device being repairable does not equate to the device being repairable by the owner only.

The cost for a tool could be prohibitive for a single person but would still make sense for a professional third party repair company.

[samstave]

There is an apple official repair video for the replacement of a battery on the iPhoneX (IIRC) -- and its comically complex process to replace the battery - and requires this specally constructed aluminum scaffold-like rig structure to apply the appropriate adhesion pressure. The device is custom made for apple by some machine shop in the south bay, and obviously unlikely available to plebs-like-us... (I can't find the video any longer - apple likely had it removed)

My point being; if apple has such stellar HW designers, 1. the fact that they needed a ~30 minute official training video on the proper replacement which required 2. a custom rig to install the new battery which was 3. only made by some small-ish machine shop in san jose is mildyinfuriating....

I think that a measure of HW design prowess should be service/repairability as a base KPI for considered being 'good design'.