Comment by evan_ | Hacker News Reader

Comment by evan_ | Hacker News Reader

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Realistically, how many people repair Android or non-Apple phones? How many iPhone users would, when faced with a broken phone, try to fix it themselves rather than take it to the Apple store for repairs?

I've got no data on it, but my gut tells me it's a tiny, tiny percentage. I would also bet that switching the entire massive operation over to using pentalobe screws (not to mention the presumably higher cost of the screws themselves) cost more than the revenue they're "losing" to people who would repair old phones themselves.

Isn't it more likely that the pentalobe screws, with higher internal surface area than a phillips screw, offer some other benefit? Looking at them I would bet that they stay on automatic screw drivers better than a phillips-head screw.

If they really wanted to make it impossible to un-screw them they'd make a screw whose head was in the shape of an Apple logo or something that nobody makes a driver for. It's not really hard to find a pentalobe screwdriver so if they were trying to keep people out it's not working. (Actually, using an Apple logo as the screw-head shape would be kind of interesting, because they might be able to sue anyone who made a matching driver for using their trademark...)

In any city in Europe you'll have corner stores all over the place who will do a screen swap for you, or just sell you the screen to do it yourself. This is far more handy, environmentally friendly, local-economy friendly, and probably cheaper than shipping in phones to Apple for refurbishment.

> Isn't it more likely that the pentalobe screws, with higher internal surface area than a phillips screw, offer some other benefit?

The article refutes this with the argument "then why don't they use the same screw on the inside of the phone?"

Yep- I've got a friend who runs a PC repair business and they do a fair number of screen replacements. Lots of shops like that in the US, both Apple certified and not. Another reason why the "pentalobe screws etc. make Apple devices impossible to repair" argument is silly.

I don't think anyone is arguing that they use the screws to make 3rd party repair impossible.

Rather people suggest they use the screws to raise the barrier to entry.

Whether or not it effectively does this is another issue.

> Realistically, how many people repair Android or non-Apple phones? How many iPhone users would, when faced with a broken phone, try to fix it themselves rather than take it to the Apple store for repairs?

Not enough, and that's the problem. iFixit's purpose for existing is to get people repairing their things (electronic or otherwise); this is why we make guides and sell tools and parts, why we make all our guides freely available under a Creative Commons license, and why we spend a lot of time and effort convincing people that yes, they can repair things.

So when a corporation makes a visible effort to discourage these same people, we get frustrated. Yes, most Apple consumers don't want to repair their iDevices. But they never will if Apple continues discouraging them.

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