‘ France is fighting to save your iPhone from an early death ‘

[btfc]

“ By forcing people to pay an accredited technician more than the value of a second-hand iPhone for a simple repair job, Apple is incentivizing people to throw their devices away rather than fix them, says Isaac. The Repair Academy estimates an Apple-accredited technician charges customers twice as much as an independent repair shop. “A lot of people see Apple as super green,” Isaac says, referring to the solar panels on the company’s California headquarters and the recycled aluminum used to build MacBooks. The Repair Academy has been gathering evidence to try and prove that’s not the case. Instead, Apple’s engineers are proactively trying to make iPhones harder to repair, he argues.

It’s a problem Isaac has been following for years. And now a Paris prosecutor has decided to take action. On May 15, the prosecutor announced that there will be an official investigation into allegations that Apple is pursuing a business model of planned obsolescence—a term that refers to designing a product in a way that intentionally limits its lifespan.”


https://www.wired.com/story/right-to-rep...le-france/

[mrbigstuff]

Perhaps this is sort of unique, although Apple is hardly new to this game. All manufacturers who limit service would (or should) be subject to the same rigor. Of course, then it would extend to automobiles, washing machines, televisions, etc.

But I like the fact that at least the Idea of Obsolescence is creeping into everyday life.

[C(-)ris]

No case here. Apple products on average last FAR long their their counterparts from other companies. Sure, you can slap a new battery easily in an LG phone, but after 5 years does the phone even work at all? Same thing with PC laptops. There are plenty of 10-15 year Mac laptops happily plugging along. Most PC laptops are in the landfill after 5 years.

I think it is a huge reach to say that they are designing them to be unserviceable on purpose or that they are planning a specific lifecycle to failure.

What is far more likely is that serviceability from outside agencies just isn't a factor they are designing on. The reason that third parties charge less is because they do a complete crap job on the repair and use inferior parts. If they actually took things apart correctly and used parts that were of the same quality they wouldn't be much cheaper.

[btfc]

You didn’t read the article, did you?

[RAMd®d]

I read the article, and if it means Apple will repair my 'Phone farther into the future, that's a win for me.

I wouldn't have an independent repair work on my kit without a lot of vetting and a great pedigree.

[sekker]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel

[Fritz]

is that why the Osram bulbs for our wall oven sell for $46?
Course, they can be found much less expensive.