Apple Focuses on Device Durability, Expands Self-Service Repair to Europe

It wasn’t that long ago that Apple products routinely drew the ire of repairability advocates. In recent years, iPhone makers have embraced user-repairability more fully, in part because of both sustainability concerns and the growing right to repair mechanism. Actions like part-pairing continue to rankle critics, including iFixit, which retroactively downgraded the iPhone 14’s repairability rating late last year over the policy.

Simply put, part pairing requires a specific component (in this case, your own) for the device to function as intended. The new white paper published Wednesday provides the most detailed look yet at Apple’s current repair policies. The study, titled “Longevity By Design,” emphasizes the priority of durability over repairability.

“Device repairability and access to repair services are important factors in designing durable products,” John Ternus, Apple’s vice president of hardware engineering, said in the study. “However, optimizing for repairability alone may not provide the best outcomes for our customers or the environment.”

Ideally, the concepts of repairability and durability should not contradict each other. The ideal device is one that never breaks down while still allowing the user easy access for repairs when needed.

Apple notes that subsequent generations of iPhones have increasingly focused on the device’s repairability. This was certainly obvious with the 2023 iPhone 15. Unsurprisingly, the subsequent iFixit breakdown was a mixed bag, once again pointing to parts pairing as the main problem. Ultimately, the site gave the device a 4/10 for repairability.

Meanwhile, Apple continues to expand its repair service to users. On Wednesday, the company announced that Diagnostics for Self Service Repair is now available in 32 European countries. The list includes the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Introduced in December, the feature provides users with diagnostics that were previously only available to Apple Authorized Service Providers and third-party repair providers.

Self-service repair has also received mixed reactions from critics. In April, Apple announced that iPhone customers and stores would be able to access used components for repairs. The company is also quick to note that it doesn’t block the use of third-party parts, but in some cases, non-Apple parts won’t have the same access to the system.

“The word ‘part pairing’ is often used externally and has a negative connotation,” Ternus told me at the time. “I think this has led people to believe that we are somehow blocking parts of other companies from working, which we are not. The way we look at it is that we need to know what part is in the device for several reasons. First, we need to confirm that this is a real Apple biometric device and that it has not been faked or anything like that. …Calibration is the second.”

Apple’s position on the matter is that the use of third-party biometrics can pose a security risk and that improperly calibrated components such as displays can result in a poorer experience.

In a new article, the company argues that ultimately the better sustainability move is to prioritize durability over repairability. It’s fair to judge individual impact based on specific components. After all, durability, reliability, and user repairability are not consistent from component to component.

Here, Apple explains that displays and batteries are more likely than other components to require repair. Until the day of an unbreakable screen, it makes sense that these components would be the easiest for users to repair. In contrast, Apple points to the more complicated math surrounding carbon emissions around charging ports.

Apple writes,

(P)Prioritizing repairs can be a mistake when the need for service is infrequent – as an internal case study on the iPhone charging port helps demonstrate. The iPhone’s charging port is part of a very durable module that contains microphones and other components that can be repaired as a whole but rarely need to be replaced. The ability to individually replace the charging port would require additional components, including its own flexible circuit board, connector and fasteners, which increase the carbon footprint required to produce each device. Higher carbon dioxide emissions during production are only justified if the charging port needs to be replaced in at least 10% of devices. In fact, the actual service rate was less than 0.1%, meaning Apple’s existing design approach ensures lower carbon emissions over the life of the device.

Apple is also using the new white paper to back away from long-standing accusations about planned obsolescence of iPhones and other devices.

“There are hundreds of millions of iPhones that have been in use for more than five years and that number continues to grow,” Apple writes. “And while some of our competitors are just starting to promise multi-year operating system updates for their products, Apple pioneered the practice of providing free updates to our customers more than a decade ago to ensure that our products last longer.”

The “competition” part is a bit of an exaggeration for companies like Google, which rolled out five years of Android security patches to Pixel 6 and 7 devices in 2021. But ultimately, any policy that allows users to continue using older devices safely is… Netto result.