(upbeat music)
- So today Apple announced
their Self Service Repair Program,
in a pretty major flip on their stance on right to repair,
and yes, there is still a bit of a catch,
but my first reaction on seeing this was, well.
I ain't never, ever see you act like this before.
It does seem kind of crazy.
We're seeing them add ports back to the MacBook Pro,
going back on that stuff,
and now flipping a stance on the right to repair,
but my second reaction was why?
So I made a video a little while back this year,
all about right to repair, that I highly suggest watching,
talks about the concept,
a bunch of companies with various stances around the issue
and why it's important.
The concept of being able to repair the thing
that you bought should be very simple,
but in 2021, it's not.
Now, Apple isn't the only company guilty
of various bad practices like this, but they are one
of the most influential consumer-facing companies ever,
so any step they make in favor of right to repair
is a pretty major deal.
So here's the announcement they've made,
and I'll link it below.
Apple announced this Self Service Repair Program,
which allows customers who are comfortable
with completing their own repairs access
to Apple's genuine parts and tools.
This is starting with the iPhone 12 and 13 lineups,
starting early next year,
and soon will add M1 Macs after that,
and the initial phase of this program will focus
on the most commonly serviced modules,
such as iPhones' display, battery, and camera.
So basically, independent certified repair shops
have had access to some tools and parts
for some very basic repairs to stuff like the iPhone,
and now, individuals, like you and me,
will be added to the list of people who can get access
to those tools and parts.
That's the pretty big deal.
So let's say you drop your iPhone or something
on the ground, the screen cracks, okay,
you've already always had the option to go
to the Apple store and have them do it for that price,
or you could take it to an independent repair shop
and pay for them to do it, but now,
you have the extra option,
if you're a confident and competent enough person,
to get that manual,
get those individual parts straight from Apple
and do the repair yourself,
and then you can actually send back the old or broken parts
to Apple so they can recycle them
and then go get a credit back on your account for some
of that value.
That's not bad.
So on the surface, I think this is great.
I think it's huge, the potential e-waste being removed,
the potential repairs that have been unlocked,
the real choice that's being offered to us
and the potential ripples this sends throughout the industry
are all great, but it is definitely still a first step,
and here's why I say that.
So number one, it's still the pretty simple,
fairly short list, so this goes back to the point I made
in the original right to repair video,
which is that devices like these phones and laptops
are more complex than ever
and are built way more tightly integrated than ever,
which makes them much more difficult to repair.
So even if an individual like you or me
now has the instructions and the parts officially
from Apple, some of the deeper repairs,
like parts of the motherboard...
I could do a battery or a screen, no problem,
but some of the memory might be going wrong
and you want to replace some of that,
it's all still soldered together and it's integrated so much
that you'd probably have to replace the whole thing.
So that hasn't really changed.
Now, I will say,
I have seen some tear downs of the new 14
and 16 inch MacBook pros and the battery
looks noticeably more repair friendly.
There's pull tabs under some of the cells now,
only a few screws to get inside the bottom,
so this does appear to be premeditated,
at least a little bit,
but I still don't see people like you and I taking parts
of the motherboard off, but then, number two,
this is also something that a lot
of independent repair shops and people like Louis Rossmann
have already aired their grievances about,
which is that the list of those repairs
that are being supported by Apple is still so short.
It's like batteries, screen, cameras.
That's it, and if it's anything outside of that,
there still will not be official Apple documentation
or parts made available.
That also has not changed.
Now, the fact is most iPhone repairs
will be under those three most common ones.
Screens and batteries' gotta be number one and number two,
and apparently, that's over 200 parts
and tools already being made available,
just for those big three.
Macs being added to the list will add a lot more,
and those are probably the only types of repairs
I would, personally, at this moment, be trying to do myself,
but for repairs beyond that, ports, buttons,
speakers and mikes, and things like that,
I would like independent repair shops to be able
to fix those things with official Apple parts
and documentation as well.
Apple says the program will be expanding later next year,
but as of right now, that has also not changed.
So why did Apple do this?
They've been notoriously against pretty much any right
to repair stance for forever.
This is so unlike them.
Well, number one,
I think a lot of the impending legislation caused
by the right to repair movement has put pressure on them.
There's FTC regulation coming down.
There's also things in Europe in law
that have pressured Apple
and they're getting out ahead of it.
Even a presidential order has gone through in the US.
I think it needs a lot more work to be stronger,
but Apple is seeing all this stuff and is getting out ahead
of it a little bit, but also number two,
this is fantastic PR.
This is a great headline, especially for Apple.
Now, again, a lot of the stuff, still unchanged.
We have a lot of questions.
We don't know prices yet,
how much these parts are going to cost for individuals.
We don't know the qualifications,
if everyone's going to be able to get these parts or not,
and there's still a bunch more details of the program
that have yet to be unveiled when it does start next year,
but it's a great first step.
I will absolutely give them that.
It's a great first step,
and since it's a great first step for Apple,
one of the biggest companies out there,
it's a great first step for the industry as a whole.
So I like it, but, yeah, this is great.
I almost want to take a broken iPhone and just repair it,
just for the hell of it,
but I'm curious what you guys think.
I don't know.
It feels like a new look Apple,
whether it's just them getting out in front of legislation
and potential problems in the future,
or maybe a little bit of them is also listening
to what people are saying.
I don't know.
Either way, it got us here,
so it's a good day for the beginning
of the movement either way.
That's been it.
Thanks for watching.
Catch you guys in the next one.
Peace.
(upbeat music)