After years of severely restricting any repairs outside of its authorized circuits, Apple has recently announced that it will provide replacement parts and tools for iPhones and Macs to those who feel like doing it on their own. The possibility will be offered on an experimental basis in the United States starting from 2022 and then extended to other countries. The first products included in the initiative are the iPhones 12 and 13 and the Macs using the new M1 processor.
For many years, various consumer associations, company shareholder groups and other organizations have been asking Apple to respect the so-called “right to repair”, that is, the possibility for individuals to independently replace any defective parts of their devices. without having to resort to professionals authorized by the company.
This possibility is not directly regulated by many governments, but in various countries a discussion is underway on the advisability of introducing new laws on the subject. The European Union has its own regulation, which has however been defined as insufficient by the organizations and associations that deal with the problem.
Apple has clarified that for now the new program, which is called “Self Service Repair”, is designed “for individual technicians with the knowledge and experience necessary to repair electronic devices” . Those who don't have enough skills should therefore turn to Apple Stores and authorized repair centers anyway, the company says, to reduce the risk of damaging their iPhone or Mac in an attempt to repair it.
It is also unclear how the warranty will be handled in the event of a home repair. It should remain valid even after a part has been replaced with an authorized spare, but there may be exceptions in the event that damage caused during the repair attempt becomes evident.
For some time there have been sites and companies specialized in the supply of tools and spare parts to repair their own devices by themselves. One of the most famous and used is iFixit, which has long been fighting for the right to repair. The company commented positively on the novelty, but indicated that for now Apple's plan provides that the spare parts sold are exclusively those certified by the company, and that they could therefore be more expensive than substantially identical parts made by other manufacturers.
Apple plans to sell at least 200 different parts through its service, which will also provide instructions for making the repairs. The manuals with the indications can be viewed before making the purchase, in order to get an idea of the difficulty of the operation and possibly decide to proceed with a repair done by professionals.
The company has not provided many details on the reasons behind the choice, which radically changes the approach it had maintained so far on the possibilities of repairing the devices on their own. The decision is likely to have been influenced by the pressures of recent years on the right to redress from various organizations and institutions in the United States. Apple also received a formal request from some shareholders, including Green Century, a fund that promotes investments in environmentally conscious companies.
The request was filed last September asking Apple to review its do-it-yourself repair policies. The proposal was to be submitted to the stock exchange regulators (SEC) in the United States, but following Apple's announcement it was withdrawn. Green Century called their initiative a success, but Apple explained that the plan announced yesterday had been developed over the past year.
