Why doesn’t Apple allow users to repair components, replace iPhone screens like before?

# **Why does Apple not allow users to repair components, replace iPhone screens like before?** ** Unlike popular phones on the market, inside the iPhone is a block of components that no one has. Replaceable except by an authorized technician.** ## **The secret inside the iPhone** Every time a new iPhone model is released, a team of technicians in Toulouse, France, disassembles it. device. During these three years of work, they discovered that the iPhone was gradually becoming a “fortress”. Today’s iPhones are filled with parts that can’t be repaired or replaced by anyone other than an expensive Apple-approved repair shop. Alexandre Isaac, CEO of The Repair Academy, the renowned repair training and research group in Toulouse, France, says it’s a problem that’s only getting worse. Every time a new iPhone is released, Isaac’s team finds a locked part that only works with authorized Apple devices. The first is just the chip on the motherboard. Then, the list of restricted parts for repair extends to Touch ID, Face ID and finally the battery, screen, and camera. By forcing users to pay a designated technician for more than the price of an old iPhone, while the request is simple, Apple is encouraging people to throw away the device instead of finding a way. repair. The Repair Academy estimates an Apple-accredited technician charges customers twice as much as an independent repair shop. “A lot of people think of Apple as a super green (environmentally focused) company,” Isaac said, referring to the solar panels at the company’s California headquarters and the recycled aluminum used to make the MacBooks. The Academy has gathered evidence and proved that it is not. Instead, Apple engineers are deliberately making iPhones more difficult to repair, while indirectly bringing great profits to the company. It’s an issue that Isaac has pursued for years, and now a Paris prosecutor has decided to take action.On May 15, the prosecutor announced there would be a formal investigation into the Apple allegations. is pursuing a business model of deliberately limiting product life.For many years, France has been at the forefront of the movement to demand repair rights, introducing Europe’s first repairability scoring system. As a matter of fact, Apple has officially been put in the spotlight.## **Serial Number Pairing** Parts pairing, also known as “serial numbering”, works by linking the phone’s serial number with the internal part’s serial number. Accordingly, each department will only go with a single phone. If it is replaced by another screen, battery or sensor, the phone will notify you that the part is not compatible. A replacement or swap won’t work if the serial numbers don’t match, or the customer will be bothered by warnings from the iPhone about the display being unverified. This is shutting down independent repair shops as only Apple authorized technicians can get past the serial number barrier to complete repairs. This is not only a consumer problem but also an environmental one. Last year, 5.3 billion cell phones were thrown away, according to estimates by the nonprofit WEEE. Serial numbering is theoretically illegal in France under the anti-waste law 2021. Failure to do so could result in Apple being fined. The American company has been fined in France before. After the battery scandal broke in 2017, France fined Apple 25 million euros for not telling consumers that updating the iPhone operating system would slow down the performance of older devices. The fine has had a ripple effect around the world. Nine months later, Apple was ordered to pay $113 million in the US for reducing the battery performance of older iPhones, in a lawsuit brought by 34 states. Since the anti-waste law was introduced in 2021, French phone makers have had to score devices on a national repairability index. By deliberately making the iPhone difficult to repair, many hope Paris can repeat the successful campaign to force Apple like the previous battery performance case, making the process of replacing parts easier.