[ksec]

Unpopular opinion.

The Verge did exactly what Apple would have like them to do. And you could argue whether that was intentional or not. ( Part of the whole PR play is to shape public discourse )

By showcasing the proper way of doing it, or how it is done when you paid $69 in the Apple Store, the article has correctly set the stage for 99% of Tech readers. ( Non-Tech people never give a damn or wouldn't want to try it themselves anyway ).

[Nextgrid]

I wouldn't be surprised if making the tools available was indeed a PR move by Apple to show off how difficult & inconvenient a "perfect" repair is to do. They didn't have to do it and as far as I know nobody was asking for those (opening/closing iPhones is a long-solved problem by various third-party tools) - instead the RtR crowd is asking for parts and schematics (which this self-repair program doesn't fully address - the parts catalog is minimal).

The fact that they're subsidizing the tool kits (the $1200 deposit they take is nowhere near the value of all that equipment) also suggests that they wanted regular people to get their hands on these tools (and no doubt talk about it) as opposed to charging the actual market value which - while affordable for a repair shop - would've been way out of reach of a regular user.

After all, this kind of equipment is not new and has been available for ages (comments on another thread about this say that in China every phone repair outlet had similar equipment) if you could justify buying it, and yet we haven't had articles like this on major tech news websites until Apple subsidized it enough and put it in a nice, idiot-friendly package.

[ClumsyPilot]

> The fact that they're subsidizing the tool kits (the $1200 deposit they take is nowhere near the value of all that equipment)

That's not a subsidy - in the normal course of business the deposit is returned and no money changes hands.

The deposit is just an insentive to return the goods, it can cover 30% or 300% of the value. The tools might not be returned, and that probably is a crime, but that's not a subsidy.

[Zren]

You can purchase all the tools instead of renting them. Someone on reddit did the math and found it was $1100 to buy everything.

https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/uuocl3/the_verge_...

To confirm it, here's all the Apple Tools listed for the iPhone 12 Battery Replacement. All costed at $1086.96.

    # Apple Tools  
     $49.00 [7-Day Rental] iPhone 12 Tool Kit (Part RKIT-12) [Rental Information]  
      $0.65 Back Protective Cover (Part 923-04877)  
      $0.65 Display Protective Cover (Part 923-04878)  
      $0.70 Adhesive Cutter (Part 923-01092)  
      $2.78 Nylon Probe (Black Stick) (Part 922-5065)  
      $8.00 JCIS Bit (Part 923-0246)  
     $10.00 Super screw Bit (Part 923-02066)  
     $12.00 Micro Stix® Bit (Part 923-01290)  
     $13.33 Torx® Security Bit (Part 923-0247)  
     $29.50 Display Adhesive Press Plate (Part 923-04911)  
     $50.00 6.1-inch Repair Tray (Part 923-04908)  
     $80.00 Torque Driver (Green, 0.45 kgf cm) (Part 923-00105)  
     $85.00 Torque Driver (Gray, 0.55 kgf cm) (Part 923-00738)  
     $99.00 Torque Driver (Black, 0.35 kgf cm) Kit (Part 923-0248)  
    $108.00 6.1-inch Heated Display Pocket (Part 661-19620)  
    $115.00 Battery Press (Part 923-02657)  
    $216.00 Display Press (Part 661-08916)  
    $256.35 Heated Display Removal Fixture (Part 661-17619)

[delusional]

It's crazy to read this comment because the article in the verge literally makes the exact same point.

[Wowfunhappy]

I partly agree, but I wish The Verge had been clearer that the huge kit was optional and the other parts could be bought separately.

And... I don't know, PR move or not, isn't it awesome that regular consumers can rent access to the full kit? I'm not sure who I'd recommend it to, but I'm sure someone is super excited, and good for them!

If I'd written the article at The Verge, I would have ended with something along the lines of:

> For most people, renting Apple's Tool Kit isn't worth the cost or hassle. If you don't have experience repairing electronics, the Apple Store is a safer and easier alternative, and if you do, you probably have your own tools already. It's great to see Apple selling genuine replacement parts to consumers. Just, don't throw out that iFixIt toolkit quite yet!

[delusional]

I guess you can always argue for _more_ of whatever angle you prefer, but it's right there at the start of the article. It's even mentioned twice in the same paragraph.

>The thing you should understand about Apple’s home repair process is that it’s a far cry from traditional DIY if you opt for the kit — which I did, once I saw the repair manual only contains instructions for Apple’s own tools. (You can just buy a battery if you want.)

[Wowfunhappy]

That's fair, but for what it's worth I did read the article and I legitimately missed this. I don't think I was the only one given what the reaction seems to have been.

[Nullabillity]

It's not awesome that their phones are designed so maliciously (poorly if you want to be charitable.. but what have they done to deserve that interpretation?) that you need all this kit (or the equivalent from elsewhere) to repair your stuff.

[Wowfunhappy]

But it isn't necessarily malice or poor design, merely different priorities. Apple may well be trying to design phones that are as small, capable, and water-resistant as possible, all of which come at the cost of repairability.

[HomeGear]

While I have no data to support this, I don’t think “regular people” are purchasing OEM parts, renting tools for a $1,200 deposit, and risking self-repair. To me, the idea is almost absurd.

[Wowfunhappy]

I agree, but I think lots of regular people would like to get their phones fixed more cheaply at a third-party repair shop.

[samsa]

Apple would like you to have them / their contractors repair your device, or better yet buy a new one.

Everything about this program signals that Apple is grudgingly doing this. It's designed to scare people away from doing the repairs themselves.

[nudgeee]

The idea of OEM repairs is to get the product back as close to factory quality as possible with as little margin for error as possible by the operator. This often requires custom tools and jigs to maximize repeatability at a high quality standard, especially on something as complex and highly integrated as a smartphone.

The gripe of the right to repair movement isn’t that tech should be made less complex, it is that the access to parts, information and schematics/designs should be made more accessible for repairs — useful if you have the necessary skills required to carry out repairs without OEM tools.

This is coming from someone who does board level repairs on the side.

[fartcannon]

Mostly I don't want to have to worry what booby traps might trip in a device I payed a substantial amount for because of some petulant CEO.

[Bud]

This may be the gripe of your particular highly-skilled niche of the right-to-repair movement, but wide swaths of said movement are agitating for products to be wholly redesigned in the ways they prefer, to aid in much easier repairs. Never mind what the other 98% of the market might like.

[ClumsyPilot]

I disagree with both claims you are making - that right to repair folks are agitating for redesign, and that 98% of the market is happy with the status quo.

If I go out and ask everyone I know, if they are happy with the current unrepairable appliances, the amount of people who answer yes is < 10%.

The only people I know who are happy, live in extreme privilidge where they can afford replacing devices annually.

But let us say that both claims you are making are true -> so what? What are the economic and environmental implication of unrepairable equipment?

[quesera]

> If I go out and ask everyone I know, if they are happy with the current unrepairable appliances, the amount of people who answer yes is < 10%.

I find this incredible.

Most people have been throwing away / replacing perfectly repairable appliances since long before mobile phones.

What makes mobile phones different?

(Obligatory Framing: I'm all for RtR. I don't think it's practical to require Apple to dumb down their design or construction to fit what a consumer could accomplish at their basement bench. But if I, or my neighborhood repair shop, is sophisticated enough to perform the work, I do think parts should be available.)

[gruez]

>If I go out and ask everyone I know, if they are happy with the current unrepairable appliances, the amount of people who answer yes is < 10%.

The question seems pointless because it's a combination of asking something that people always want more of (who doesn't want more repairability, at least in the abstract?), and fails to mention the trade-offs (eg. price, thinness, water resistance).

[ClumsyPilot]

They don't have IQ of a mushroom, we don't understand the tradeoffs

Anyway, is your result from doing simiar diffetent?

[Bud]

Who said anything about replacing devices annually? Could we at least argue honestly and in good faith?

iPhones and iPads are very easily good for, at a minimum, three to four years of very heavy use before any battery replacement would be necessary at all.

Your numbers are sourced from a very atypical population, and you are obviously smart enough to know that. My numbers are accurate, as evidenced by, um, people still buying hundreds of millions of iPhones a year and Apple still having the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the industry. Astronomically high ratings.

As for the environmental implications, that is of course a fair question, but have you taken some time to familiarize yourself with Apple's extraordinary efforts to build robots for the specific purpose of fully disassembling its devices so that materials can then be recycled? You should. You might be impressed.

[Sebb767]

Honestly, how? They provide the parts at a reasonable price and even provide the actual tooling they use to get something as close to OEM repair as possible. There are a lot of things faulty at Apple, but this is not one of them.

[ClumsyPilot]

Can you buy the $5 lighting port if your's has broken? Can you buy the $2 charging chip? Can you buy a microphone, a gyroscope, or any of the 50 individual electronic components for either phones, laptops or tablets? Can you at least by the micropone jack?

I rest my case.

[Sebb767]

The original comment said:

> It's designed to scare people away from doing the repairs themselves.

I don't think the program is perfect, but I don't see how missing components scare people away.

[kcplate]

I’m gonna assume from your name that you might understand what I am about to say— I think you may be demanding SRU and SRCs where LRUs are appropriate.

[samsa]

I suppose "scare" was perhaps too strong a word. "Steer" would have been more appropriate. Search Apple's website for "repair" to get a sense of how important they think letting consumers know about this program is.

You'll find 404 responses when you click on repair manual links; the link to the self service repair is at the bottom of the support page; the self service storefront is very deliberately non-descript and as others have mentioned immediately raises red flags for people trained to look for basic clues about a site's legitimacy. Etc.

[fargle]

The issue is that the owners of a device should have the choice whether they want an OEM quality repair or just "good enough", not Apple. It's just not their position to make this decision for you.

The argument will be made that the "App Store" is there to protect you because security/privacy. And the DRM'd components are there to protect you from cheap chinese knockoffs. I think that's fine as long as it's opt-in.

But no, it's not for your protection - it's to control the market and drive the cost of repair higher so you will forced to buy a new phone more often. This is a blatant case of "OK you demanded right-to-repair, so let's show you how to make it as difficult as possible". It's not grudging - it's willful and spiteful.

[Brian_K_White]

But they don't. Comments like this proves the effectiveness of the pr stunt. This kit of tools is not what anyone asked for or needed, and does not address any of the actual problems with repairing Apple products.

[Sebb767]

If definitely does address some. As Louis correctly points out, if you don't have much skill and/or want an OEM-like repair, having those tools available is great. And if you don't need them, Apple doesn't force them onto you. I honestly think it's great that they offer their tooling for rent. Now, the program is not perfect by any means. But it definitely does address some of the problems with repairing Apple products.

Lastly, as I already pointed out in a sister comment, the grandparent said the program is designed to scare people away from repairing their phone. I actually don't see how. In fact, providing the tooling makes it more accessible than just providing the parts. I'd love to see everything replaceable, but this is a step in the right direction.