One of the movements born from below in recent years is American and is called “Right to repair“, right to repair. It was created to counter the economic and environmental waste of electronic industrial products (from washing machines to televisions) disposable type: built to be used until they fail and then replaced. According to some, even based on the idea of a “planned obsolescence“, i.e. designed to fail after a couple of years of use.
Il “Right to repair” was born thanks to activists, bloggers but also volunteers: like the Dutchman’s idea Martin Postmawhich organized the first in 2009 Repair Cafe nel Fijnhout Theater di Amsterdam. O Louis Rossman, repair technician turned YouTube influencer who preaches the right to disassemble and reassemble the products we buy without voiding the warranty. The idea has been taken up by various movements and also by the US government and the European Union (Mostly in France) creating a still incomplete legislation in which, however, the idea that electronic products must be repairable passes.
The only company in the mobile phone industry who has embraced this legislation is Apple. The manufacturers of the iPhone, which accounts for almost a fifth of mobile phone sales worldwide, have launched a program called “Self Service Repair” in the US, which is now also arriving in Italy. In the Italian Self Service Repair Store, the company provides all the resources necessary for one do-it-yourself repair of products to which, for example, the glass has broken or the battery no longer works properly. The program in Italy for now concerns iPhones 12 and 13 and Macs with Apple Silicon processor, for which they are intended more than 200 different repairs.
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The program is underway
Apple has released a study (in English) explaining its approach to expanding possibility of repairing its products, which has been actively redesigning them for a couple of years to make them more accessible. Thus, according to the company, a balance is achieved between a design thought to give more resistance and durability to the products (which are more “compact” and closed”, with for example screen with glass strengthened with ceramicprotection IP68 e synthetic sapphire for camcorder lenses) better protecting them from liquids and dust, and on the other side making it easier to open and with modular components which can be more easily replaced. In the iPhone 14, for example, this meant completely redesigning the body of the phone, making it openable both from behind as well as from the front, to allow for repairs where it is not necessary to detach the screen from the frame. It sounds like an engineer’s technical detail, but it cuts the cost of repairs and parts by two-thirds needed to replace the back glass of the phonewhich can break if the appliance falls badly.
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Do-it-yourself repairs
The real novelty, however, is the possibility of the do-it-yourself repair. A unique thing on the whole market, and made in such a way as to allow for a potentially similar result to be obtained (if the person repairing has sufficient dexterity) to that of an intervention in a specialized shop. Apple provides the manualsto be studied to understand how to carry out the repair, the tools to do it (which you can buy or rent for 59 euros: there are for example torque screwdrivers, repair trays, display and battery presses) and spare parts. Finally, if something goes wrong, you can always ask for help at an Apple Store.
The program not only covers home repairs but also opens the door to independent repairers, so far more than four thousand those involvedwho can thus work on behalf of third parties using appropriate tools e original spare parts from Apple or certified by third parties. There are over five thousand Apple Authorized Service Centers worldwide with more than 100 thousand technicians. According to the company, eight out of ten Apple customers in Europe are within 30 minutes of an authorized service provider.
If a home replacement of a battery, which is now much easier to remove than before, is successful, the phone goes back to being waterproof as before and no warranty has been violated by the user. The convergence of the approach for the life of the devices and that for their repairability for Apple has become a unique requirement that probably in Cupertino it robs the designers of new smartphones of sleepbecause it makes it much more difficult to reach others as well design goals and requests for appliances ever thinner and more elegant. But contrary to the proverb, Apple is trying to get it all: phones that are stylish, durable, and user-serviceable. Currently only company in the sector to have started a program of this size.