[voyagerfan5761]

Avoidant as I am of Apple's ecosystem, I can only imagine the "security" justification for serializing a display panel. Covert exfiltration of sensitive information from password managers and such?

At any rate, I continue to be unamused by how difficult it is for normal people to service their own Apple devices.

[randomuser23423]

> Avoidant as I am of Apple's ecosystem, I can only imagine the "security" justification for serializing a display panel. Covert exfiltration of sensitive information from password managers and such?

They're a more valuable target for theft the more parts that can be "cleanly" sold.

[hsbauauvhabzb]

Are ipad thieving gangs really breaking down and on selling stolen components?

[kmeisthax]

Yes. I have a friend who works at Geek Squad and had to service someone who got their iPhone chop-shopped. Someone had stolen the phone, swapped out everything with knock-off parts, and then left the phone behind. The victim flagged the phone as lost on Find My so they at least got a free warranty replacement.

The fact that chop-shopping is a thing with phones now does not excuse Apple's parts serialization shenanigans.

[somat]

I am not doubting you, it just is really weird that they would bother to replace the parts at all. my guess would be to try and sell the chopped unit as a real iphone? but why leave it behind?

[TillE]

If you make Apple devices totally worthless to thieves, you discourage theft. Make them bricks which can't even be harvested for parts.

That's the goal apparently, and it makes sense.

[can16358p]

This.

As a user I'm okay with using only authorized components if it makes theft virtually impractical as there wouldn't be much to use even if the device is stolen.

It will give me more peace of mind as no one will have the incentive to steal an iPad anymore.

[hyperhopper]

Does anybody really think that one company removing users freedom at the software level, will make thieves not steal hardware worth $1000+?

This is some silicon valley tech bubble mentality.

[can16358p]

It makes sense from Apple's image that want to create: being associated with trust and stability, even if means less freedom at some extent.

If I ("I" as the potential customer) can buy an iPad where I can trust Apple because they are taking many measures to make my iPad non-stealable (by practically removing many incentives to steal) it would create a trustworthy image and I'd feel safer, and Apple would have reached its goal of that image.

[userbinator]

I'm not. It's only creating more e-waste, and thieves will find a way around it sooner or later anyway.

[kaba0]

Does it? Apple products have an absolutely blooming 2nd, 3rd hand markets, they easily serve 4-6 years I might even say on average.

[can16358p]

Well there are many other alternatives then.

It's good to have at least one company to go this way for people who want to be (relatively) safe from theft.

[veave]

"ipad thieving gangs" makes it sound like a joke, but yes, there are people who steal iphones and ipads, and they know who to talk to to sell them, which in turn disassemble them and know who to talk to to sell the components, etc.

If you go to aliexpress you will find tons of used, original Apple components. Where do you think they came from?

[BoorishBears]

Yes, in Shenzhen.

[Retric]

Discouraging chop shops for phones seems silly, but 3rd party repair shops have major incentive to find cheaper components. Compare the history of car stereos vs catalytic converter thefts.

I support the right to repair, but there are real issues that should be addressed. Steps like stamping catalytic converters with the cars VIN really can help.

[kiririn]

For displays I imagine the reason is more reputation and experience - normally just about every apple product has a factory calibrated display, but that promise can be broken (intentionally or not) on the used market. It’s nice to have a means of checking whether a display is legit other than eyeballing it

That being said, I can’t think of a reason for blocking correct pencil functionality. It doesn’t seem like something that would need individual calibration

[xenadu02]

The Apple Pencil is designed for extremely low latency and high accuracy to make it feel as close to writing on paper as possible. The API offered to developers presents predicted digitizer points and retroactively updates them in subsequent frames because even the latency introduced by a standard 60/120Hz draw loop introduces cognitive dissonance - your brain can tell something is off if you wait for the next frame update.

People are making a lot of bold claims with absolute certainty without so much as a test rig... how they can determine that such precision doesn't require any calibration or that using the old controller with a new screen is "accurate" is a very interesting question. I'm not sure drawing a few lines in one app is sufficient to draw such strong conclusions.

[can16358p]

It might actually need calibration.

And if it does it would damage the reputation of Apple's products (iPad and Pencil) as they won't work accurately and will glitch, creating a subpar experience which Apple would obviously not want to be associated with their products.

[rasz]

Calibration is like wheel alignment. What is happening here is :

Changing tires for same brand and model car came from the dealer. Car no longer drives in a straight line, steering wheel feels wobbly at certain steering angles.

You saying its a wheel alignment issue.

Replacing TPMS sensors with ones from the old wheel set. Car magically starts driving straight and no more weird wobbles.

[kaba0]

More like putting on the new wheels but forgetting to put enough pressure in them.

[rasz]

Turns out wheels came off another fully working car and worked perfectly fine before being removed.

The _only_ difference is TPMS sensors serial numbers.

[gandalfgreybeer]

> At any rate, I continue to be unamused by how difficult it is for normal people to service their own Apple devices.

I am also a proponent of being able to self-repair (but can sort of see what risks Apple are minimizing by how they're doing it now). However, I would say most "normal" people are fine or would prefer to just go to Apple service centers. It is only with the more technologically-oriented communities where I see that preference. Of course this varies across communities across countries.

[redeeman]

> their own Apple devices.

thats a slightly different interpretation of the situation than what the mighty apple has :) and I suspect thats where most of the "confusion" is :)