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Comment by bogwog | Hacker News Reader

What a joke. They're only offering parts for iPhone 12/13/SE and the prices are the same as Apple's own repair service.

So I can pay Apple $329 to fix my broken screen, or I can pay ~$311 + shipping to do the repair myself (actually I can't because they're not selling parts for my broken XS Max on this site).

Maybe the only good thing about this is that they're selling equipment that might be valuable for third-party repair shops, like the "heated display removal fixture". Although I'm pretty sure better alternatives exist.

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> Later this year the program will also include manuals, parts, and tools to perform repairs on Mac computers with Apple silicon

I don’t know about pricing as the store site is not working for me (maybe thousands of anxious people trying to buy parts) but it seems later this year it will be possible to repair computers. The guides are already out there.

VPNs and CloudFlare WARP are blocked, that's probably your issue.

Let's assume that all iPhones that are "repaired" by an Apple Store are actually replaced by the Apple Store. This matches my experience - go in with broken phone, walk out with brand new identical phone.

Then assume all the old phones are shipped to India/Vietnam/Sri Lanka/China where apple pays the smallest achievable wages for laborers to either:

1) swap out the broken displays, mainboards, etc. to produce a working "Refurbished" unit. Who does Apple sell these to? I don't see refurbished phones for sale on their website. Maybe to T-Mobile/etc who do sell some refurbished iPhones.

2) Disassemble the unit, throwing out everything except 100% known-good components, which get used for...what? Maybe new iPhones? Would apple ever include refurbished components...probably not. What do they do with all these known good but used components?

Either way, you can imagine that Apple might only be paying $10 or so to ship all these phones in a giant container to Asia and $20 or so for the labor of repair/disassembly. So maybe the "Self Service Part" really is being offered at the same materials price, minus Apple's straight internal labor cost.

I somewhat doubt this, but it's at least plausible.

> Let's assume that all iPhones that are "repaired" by an Apple Store are actually replaced by the Apple Store. This matches my experience - go in with broken phone, walk out with brand new identical phone.

That used to be very common if not the default (this was my experience too, would always just get a replacement), but these days I believe they actually do a lot of common repairs in stores in a relatively short period of time (screen / back / button / battery replacements), etc.

> 1) swap out the broken displays, mainboards, etc. to produce a working "Refurbished" unit. Who does Apple sell these to? I don't see refurbished phones for sale on their website. Maybe to T-Mobile/etc who do sell some refurbished iPhones.

available through Apple at https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished/iphone. I think availability changes frequently, only see iPhone 11 Pro currently but have seen others in the past.

Commercial sales and large businesses buying 1000+ iPhones at a time would probably appreciate the discount refurbished phones might offer

I think your onto the right track here with the way Apple probably treats repairs but I can't imagine that the parts actually cost this much. Maybe for some specific things it would be decently high (processor, display) but $311 to self repair a screen seems a bit ridiculous when tons of other phones can have a very nice OLED screen put in for much, much less.

I once had to do a screen replacement (dropped phone).

They did the swap out. I was on applecare if that matters.

It was something like $30 which seemed very reasonable. I walked out in maybe 15 minutes? This was a long time ago, and I lived a few blocks from an apple store.

My GF was amazed though (her family was on android) because at the time their approved / store repair options were pretty much nonexistent so they often would tape a screen with a crack etc.

I've gone years now without a cracked screen, so they are definitely tougher than they used to be (I don't always use a case etc).

You've forgotten the ~$30 reimbursement for returning the broken part.

Honestly though... what did you expect? Apple said the parts were sold at the exact same prices as their AASPs and their own stores. When you already have the tools, that makes a ~$49 margin for the Store or AASP for a display replacement, a healthy reimbursement of labor and time. Did you expect to save hundreds?

> ... ~$49 margin for the Store or AASP for a display replacement, a healthy reimbursement of labor and time.

How long does it take to replace a display?

... A good while

https://youtu.be/n2Zw7-oPDrc

This video shows it being done in 10 minutes with explanation and without any cuts. (This is an XR which is pretty old school but I don't have any positive reason to believe it takes longer with newer displays.)

I think you posted the wrong video. I’m seeing a video about building a monolithic telescope.

Oh shoot. I don't know how that happened. Thanks for the tip, I'll find the video and fix the link. (Now done.)

Is this really a fair comparison to someone that has never done it before, doesn’t have everything perfectly laid out. Doesn't have the confidence to proceed at pace without bricking their $1000+ phone and priceless memories. Doesn’t have to deal with the screen that’s probably shattered to shit and they can’t backup their phone because they can’t enter the password. Has places to put all the little screws so that they don’t lose them and the time needed to remember how to put them right back?

> Is this really a fair comparison to someone that has never done it before . . .

That's not what we're comparing it to. We're discussing the labor cost to Apple of replacing the screen, and asking whether $50 is a healthy margin for labor and other overheads. The answer is yes, since replacing a screen does not take all that much labor. As much as I hate Apple, the fact a screen can be replaced so quickly supports their claim that the parts themselves are most of the cost of the repair, and justifies their charging as much as they do for the self-service program.

(I mean it could be that they're lying through their teeth and they're making a huge profit but that would be bold. Highly visible companies normally either tell half truths or stay silent, they tend not to make direct, clear lies over an item that has a lot of public scrutiny.)

Look into _why_ they're doing it. Right to repair laws are being passed in countries, especially the EU. Cynically, Apple could want to get ahead now for the PR win, that they didn't need to, while all these years they have dragged their feet.

> Apple will offer tool rental kits for $49, so that customers who do not want to purchase tools for a single repair still have access to these professional repair tools. The weeklong rental kits will ship to customers for free.

Seems you missed this part.

You're right, the total price is $360+shipping (EDIT: or $327.35 after the return credit) with the additional tool rental. The $311 price is just the display bundle, which includes the display+adhesive+screws. Although to be fair, the tools in that rental kit aren't required to do the repair as far as I can tell.

Also, I just noticed that the display items have this disclaimer:

> This part requires the System Configuration software tool. After performing the repair, contact us by chat or phone to initiate System Configuration.

So they're not getting rid of that bullshit display serial number system, meaning that even if you buy a genuine display from Apple and perform the repair following Apple's own instructions, your phone will still be in a broken state until you call Apple and ask them to remove the software lock.

You also can't even place an order for a display unless you provide a valid serial number/IMEI.

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