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Comment by jjcon | Hacker News Reader

A lot of it is brand protection to be honest. I’ve seen so many cheap “refurbished” iPhones in the past with absolutely terrible cheap parts put in them. For end users this is most immediately apparent when the screens are 3rd party (terrible color, irregular backlighting etc) but these days it is a lot harder to use 3rd party parts.

I think there is an argument to be made that these protections preserve the used Apple market because people can actually trust it for the most part (we certainly see that reflected in the prices). I imagine the lifespan of an iPhone is much longer than a comparable (by footprint) android device.

I’m my mind right to repair trumps all these upsides but it isn’t as clean as it always seems imo.

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Providing the user with more information is fine and not anti repair imo. If the user boots the phone and sees a bunch of non-genuine warnings, they can know to steer clear of buying the device.

The larger issue seems to be where there is calibration info that needs to be set up but only Apple has the software and tools for it.

"Providing the user with more information is fine and not anti repair imo. If the user boots the phone and sees a bunch of non-genuine warnings, they can know to steer clear of buying the device."

You're assuming a technical, informed and assertive user here. There are lots of people who don't even try to turn off and on the phone when buying. Or fall for bullshit like 'it's normal, just ignore that message'. And what do you do when some repairman used a knockoff battery and is threatening with calling the police if you don't accept and pay for the 'repaired' phone?

Agreed - I actually think that would solve a lot of this.

Apple could put in as many oem checks as they want, hell, even throw a persistent warning in the settings menu or something to inform and even dissuade but they should absolutely allow it at the end of the day.

Maybe actually selling genuine parts for repair would be better brand protection.

That's what they already do, but the genuine OLED ceramic screen can't compete in price with some crappy LCD screen with regular glass that shows ripples when you push it with your finger.

You can't buy a replacement USB port if the one in the phone breaks. You can't buy a replacement charging chip, RAM chip, etc.

That's what they already do? Can you point me to where I can buy these parts?

Nokia solved this problem two decades ago by putting holograms on their batteries.

I bought a fake Nokia back in the day (18 years ago). The thing which gave away it was fake was the atrocious battery life (2ish run time hours), and otherwise clunky software. I can assure you faking a hologram was absolutely not problem.

Because when people buy a used iPhone it is reasonable for them to open up the phone and check all the parts for holograms?

Well what choice do is anyone have when you can't get official parts for refurbishing?

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