[webmobdev]

> Easy salvage might create an unacceptably wide-spread life-safety risk to ALL smartphone owners.

Yeah, it'll be the end of the world if an iPhone is disassembled and its parts sold worldwide! /s

If preventing theft was the real goal behind requiring software activation for repairs, then Apple can simply display a warning to the user that a replaced part is stolen and to inform the police. The real reason for this anti-repair feature is to ensure that iDevice users are forced to buy Apple care, are forced to buy parts from Apple at artificially inflated prices and to prevent them from sourcing cheaper parts from elsewhere. When I buy an iPhone, I own it. If I want to replace a part in it with a non-genuine non-apple spare part it is my right to do so, and Apple doesn't have any right to prevent me from doing so.