Apple’s Independent Repair Provider program expands globally
apple.com
apple.com
The IRP provides parts, but when it comes to apple, the only parts available are the entire assemblies, which is a bummer. Instead of replacing a $4 IC that got blown because of liquid damage, you have to replace the entire PCB, which for a MBP might be like $800-1200.
I feel like there is so much ewaste that wouldn't head to the landfill if this wasn't the case.
Repairable, or, especially, upgradeable Macs are absolutely a fever dream of mine.
The problem is the suppliers for apple have tightened protocols and they won’t talk to him anymore so what used to be $1 in new parts and $40 in effort is now telling the customer to throw their MacBook in the bin.
The economics also changes in other countries where the cost of a laptop far exceeds the wages of the people living there so having someone mess around with it for a few days is still more cost effective than getting a new one.
That's probably not what it costs Apple. Especially with the M1, they pay per square inch of wafer, not chip...
Total Bill of Materials = display + motherboard + laptop case + keyboard + trackpad + charger + cable
So if for example the motherboard is 40% of the total BOM of a $2500 laptop, you have a $1,000 motherboard right there.
That said there is a kernel of truth here which is that component level repair requires diagnostic acumen, creativity and some mechanical skill. That requires some actual expertise, training, .. in your repair business instead of hiring monkeys that replace full boards no matter what.
Why forget? We're talking about Apple, and it's a choice Apple could make at any time. It took me a few years, but I am now pretty damn good with my hot air reflow station and can reliably work with pretty much any SMD.
If someone (who of of course has given informed consent that I am not Apple and they have no responsibility for this repair) wants me to try and fix their device, what's the good reason for Apple not selling me a component?
Because it makes no sense if your goal is to make as much money as possible. You'd rather sell them something new or capture as much profit as possible by selling your repairs.
I'm an apple customer only because I consider them the least worst option for me at this time. Nobody is king forever, and the second there's a viable option for me, I'm out.
I have no personal insight into the content of Apple's contracts. That said, having had a bit of experience in that sort of thing previously, the "good reason" could be Apple's contracts with its suppliers. Maybe Apple gets different contracts since they are such a market maker, but for a normal startup, be prepared to not be able to sell those parts on to third parties. Full stop.
Many people sometimes don't read or fully understand the fine print in those contracts. ("Many people" being me and my partners as first time hardware guys.)
Not sure why suppliers do that? Maybe so that they can capture that markup revenue themselves? Or maybe they don't want you moving into that business at all even as a "parts seller"? But in dealing with component suppliers at a less larger scale, there are many things you have to agree to that would have made doing what you ask explicitly a breach of our contracts.
You would think Apple has better contracts though? I would think they would have far more flexibility. Just throwing out what we had to deal with and thinking "what if Apple has the same thing going on?"
Them wanting you to buy a new device?
You've shown that you're ready to spend a lot of money already. Chances are good that you'd do it again.
I think no matter the lengths you go to in explaining it there would in fact still be a lot of consumers that don’t understand what this means. And so Apple might see more customers blame them whenever a less skilled IRP changes some components without it fixing the problem.
>According to iFixit, the Surface Laptop isn’t repairable at all. In fact, it got a 0 out of 10 for repairability and was labeled a “glue-filled monstrosity.” Ouch. That’s never happened before. The lowest scores previously were a 1 out of 10 for all previous iterations of the Surface Pro
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/251046-ifixit-labels-s...
What Microsoft did there takes the cake though...That is truly disgusting.
I wonder if they have any data on how often folks used to do that.
I tried a non-HP Windows installation disc and everything worked just fine. So I was not allowed to install the Licensed and paid-for Windows OS because the hard disk was not recognized as an HP part.
I wasted so much time troubleshooting that it would have been cheaper to just buy the overpriced HP disk. Since that day I have never purchased any HP products, and I have recommended other brands to my clients.
TBH, refurb stuff in my mind is basically remanufactured. When most devices go through that process at a manufacturer, many times they will get the guts pulled out and have replacement cosmetics redone.
I have never seen anything but the current gen stuff or N-1 laptops for sale on their refurb store, so call that into question.
If it can't be bought, how do you know it costs $4?
More to the point — I don't think Apple is focused on repair shops as competition. I think they're focused on the likes of Samsung and Huawei as competition, and lock up the parts to keep them out of the hands of their real competitors. The indy repair facilities are just collateral damage.
Preventing other manufacturers from buying them may be another benefit, but fighting repairs is more than a happy accident.
How does that even make sense - the parts are shipping with the devices. And reverse engineering stuff from the device to the point of being able to repair (ie. reverse engineering to the point of a repair manual) should be fairly trivial for invested parties.
I'm even giving them a huge price hike, since on many of the things, for example a common DC-DC converter with multiple rails in a WLCSP or BGA package is more like $.20-$.35 at the volumes they buy.
They are definitely not doing this as a competitive thing against Samsung/Huawei, since Samsung/Huawei aren't competitors on laptops. This is specifically around their laptops/desktops.
These practices are definitely targeted at removing the capabilities to do component level repair. If they were not, you could allow your suppliers to sell those ICs to component level repair shops.
The problem is that Apple has a pattern and well established history of this type of anti-repair behavior. They have also been actively engaged in lobbying against these types of rights. They definitely don't get to have the benefit of the doubt on this topic.
If we always had to buy OEM dealer parts and only dealer 'certified techs' could repair, then only the rich can afford vehicles.
https://youtu.be/0rCUF-V1esM skip to 6:13.
Assuming Apple even sells their "authorized independent repair providers" the parts or authorizes them to perform the repairs. From the sound of things, they can't do hardly anything more than replace screens and batteries. Rossmann has said he's not AAIRP-certified specifically because the program wouldn't allow him to offer many of the repair services he current provides.
Have a problem? Drive down to the Apple store.
Then I moved to a European country without a single Apple store.
Did you know that Apple will only replace iPhones under warranty that were purchased in the same country (EU is a single market)? [0]
Meaning, if I buy an iPhone in Europe, Apple won't service it under warranty in the US and visa versa. I have to mail it to the country of purchase.
There are a lot of locations in the world without an Apple store, and I help this makes it easier to get support locally.
I recently switched to the M1 from Lenovo's X1 Carbon line and one of the things I appreciated about Lenovo was having a global 3rd party support network with a massive footprint to service warranty issues.
If I have problems with my M1 I need to mail it somewhere.
Anecdotal, but I had my EU-bought hardware serviced multiple time by Apple in the US. In fact, Apple replaced my battery of my EU-bought laptop for free, even though my laptop was long out of warranty.
Additionally Apple US has fixed my hardware when Apple EU has refused to do so claiming it had no problem.
I Have Apple Care, if that matters.
People like to complain about Apple support all the time, but in my experience, Apple has been the only company where I've had a good warranty experience, though that was in the US. In the EU, it's a disaster.
That's the hilarious thing about Apple. You overpay on the hardware so that you can get gouged on the software, while overpaying for a subscription to be able to overpay for repairs.
You might want to refine your talking points. This has been standard practice for electronics companies at least since the 1970's. Probably longer. You pay for an extended warranty. That's why it's called "extended."
I mean sure, many stores try to flog them. But Apple is the only manufacturer that tries to make them a thing, over here at least.
(Aside from them being ~useless, since manufacturing defects are covered by the Reklamationsrätt anyway, and accidents go under your existing home insurance).
When did this change? I remember global warranty for all Apple products with a battery.
Our taxes are stupidly insane, and often things at outright not available here, so we buy in other countries... need warranty? You are screwed.
I bought some RAM for example from US... It had an error in its ROM configuration, I told the manufacturer, they attempted to fix (and failed, the replacement had same error) and sent to me the replacement, government changed me import taxes on the product replacement, and seemly just to make a point made the taxes higher than the original price I paid in first place.
Sounds counter-productive. Are they seriously hopping manufacturers are going to go setup manufacturing facilities there?
All it does is hurt the local Tech Sector.
Promoting the purchase of expensive foreign goods dries up the supple of foreign currency generally used as a reserve, which drives down the value of local currency, generates an inflationary spiral, and increases the cost of more vital industries to acquire foreign goods necessary for production.
Hence import taxes in a lot of these countries are used to prevent bank runs, inflation, and access to critical goods.
If you want to get your battery replaced. The settings app must show that the battery health is at 80% or lower. If it doesn’t for some reason, the repair store is not allowed by apple to swap the battery regardless of what you have experienced or what you are willing to pay.
The primary benefit of going to an independent repair store is that they're local and can provide faster turnaround than mailing it off somewhere. But Apple serializes the batteries, so you can't stockpile them. The battery won't work unless it's programmed with the phone's serial, and independent repair shops can't do that.
So the customer has to go to the independent repair shop, have them open up the phone, write down the serial number, order the battery from Apple, wait for it to be shipped, and then call the customer back in a week so that the phone can be opened and actually fixed.
And if the customer at any point says "fuck it" and buys a new phone or sends it direct to Apple, then the repair shop is stuck with an worthless battery that only works for that specific phone.
And on top of that, the batteries are un-competitively priced.
It's a completely worthless program designed to provide them some political cover and nothing else.
My experience has been the opposite.
When I had my battery replaced at an independent Apple authorized service center (one that Apple actually referred me to), they replaced the battery the same day with one they had in stock.
It's a great machine, but will buy it only after an official statement of Apple confirming what's the TBW of their ssd. It's 150? 300 or 600. Nobody knows.
I think most people understand you have to "replace" at that point.