Andrew Orr
A French environmental group has filed a complaint against Apple because the company restricts the use of "unauthorized" parts in iPhone repairs.
The complaint targets a practice Apple uses for its devices, called pairing. It associates the serial numbers of components with a specific iPhone to make sure the repair parts are genuine.
The "Halte L'Obsolescence Programmee" (HOP) group says Apple limits repairs, especially from non-authorized repair providers. In some instances documented in the complaint, malfunctions were found where the device was repaired with a part Apple didn't authorize.
As one example, the group mentions that an iOS 16 update made an iPhone XR unusable because of a repair to a touch sceen.
"If Apple wants to hinder independent repair and the development of reconditioning, justice must hinder these anachronistic, irresponsible and illegal practices," said Samuel Sauvage, co-founder of the association.
In a similar case brought to a French consumer watchdog, Apple agreed to pay 25 million euros ($26.32 million) for slowing down certain older iPhone models that had a depleted battery to prevent crashing. It led to dozens of lawsuits, an official apology from Apple, and an inexpensive battery replacement program.
As pointed out in a report from Reuters, it's forbidden under French law to deliberately reduce the lifespan of a product to increase its replacement rate. It's not clear how part pairing does this, however.
Apple launched a Self Service Repair program in the US in April 2022, with a dedicated store for ordering official iPhone replacement parts.
In early December, the program expanded to eight countries in Europe, including France. The Self Service Repair Store includes over 200 parts, tools, and manuals — and includes part pairing when necessary.
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3 Comments
You can repair your device and use whatever parts you want.
But like many companies, if it breaks your device, you’re on your own. Use genuine Apple parts, or GM parts, or Cessna parts, or whatever and you are fine. Bring your Toyota 4-Runner in with an aftermarket Nitro system on it and they will just laugh at you. Apple isn’t unusual in this. Bring your Mac in with RAM from Cheap-Honestly-Not-Fake-RAM.com complaining that the MoBo is fried they will just tell you you’re SOL. My family used to work in Aviation selling Avionics. King Radio made it clear, their radios had to be installed by one of their certified facilities, and repaired by one of their certified techs, or don’t bother calling. They wouldn’t even talk to people who tried to DIY it.
Apple is not going to be responsible for people who want to convert their iPhone to USB-C, botch it, and want a warranty replacement.
In the case above, somebody had a shade tree tech replace the screen in an iPhone XR with a piece from who knows where. A later iOS update bricked his device. That’s TFB. You get what you pay for.
How is Apple supposed to ensure compatibility with third-party parts? It’s one thing to say they shouldn’t actively block those parts from working, but it’s a whole other thing to say iOS must work with them. That’s not feasible or even possible to ensure. Unless you want to force Apple to allow people to write and install system-level drivers for third party displays.