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Thing is, they already have to support right to repair because of the EU, so there’s no point in spending time and money in court fighting it elsewhere. So best PR-wise to now “support” right-to-repair laws.
They either managed to guarantee that the law won’t pass or they found a loophole
Indeed… apple have spent a lot of time engineering their phones so you can’t replace parts. Even batteries are coded to the phone.
I can’t see them reversing that.
Go to the latest video on Louis Rossmann’s channel. Check the comment section, they found a loophole
“Further, the bill has a component that prevents manufacturers from being required to make tools, parts, and documentation available for any component that would disable or override antitheft security measures, which would encompass features like Face ID.”
All Apple has to do is claim that some part is security-sensitive and they don’t have to make it available. Or they can part things together in a “package” and only make that available. Need a $1 chip? Tough, you have to buy the screen sub assembly that costs $750.
Something like this, I imagine:
“The screen is bonded directly to the front-facing camera, so the screen assembly must never be separated in order to prevent tampering with FaceID. As an additional anti-tamper measure, we’ve also recently begun permanently soldering the harness responsible for connecting the screen assembly and TPM. Unfortunately, this means that the screen assembly and motherboard cannot be separated without compromising system security. For the protection of our users, we at Apple cannot in good conscience offer any individual parts other than the case and master screen+motherboard assembly.”
I only see comments claiming they found a loophole and the move was anticompetitive so smaller manufacturers break down.
No sources.
I fully expect that we will soon hear how Apple revolutionised the industry by pioneering repairability.
Lol, oh man… This hurts. Anyone who knows how things have gone knows this isn’t a joke, and that the idiotic people who lap up Apple’s propaganda are going to tell Everyone all about it.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In a major reversal, Apple is now expressing support for a right-to-repair bill in California, as reported by TechCrunch and iFixit.
In a letter to California Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman, Apple says it endorses the SB 244 bill, which requires manufacturers to give customers and independent repair shops the appropriate tools, manuals, and parts to repair damaged electronics and appliances.
Apple has slowly been warming up to the idea of right to repair by establishing its own self-repair programs for various devices, including the iPhone 14 and M2-equipped MacBooks.
While this program lets users obtain the tools and parts they need, right-to-repair advocates argue that it’s still not an economical way to repair the devices.
If approved, this would add to the growing number of right-to-repair laws passed in other states, including Minnesota and Colorado.
New York passed a right-to-repair bill last year, but before it was signed into law, it was heavily amended to give OEMs some convenient exceptions and loopholes.
The original article contains 316 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 49%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Good bot
Don’t worry, another corporation will come to save us from the dangers of repairing our products in a sustainable manner.
/s
It may not be because Apple wants to do it, but it’s good for us regardless.
Must be a watered down version.
A user from another community breaks it down nicely.
https://programming.dev/comment/2283862
It’s basically the existing crappy “authorized” repair they are doing rn.
Is this like a real life correlation to the meme where southerners thought “free slaves” meant price? It’s Apple, there has got to be a fundamental misunderstanding if they’re suddenly in support of something they’ve actively worked against for years.
Another commenter mentioned that this is probably happening due to the EU’s right-to-repair law. If Apple has to provide the parts and instructions there, then they might as well do it in the US as well and get some good press and goodwill for supporting the bill.
It’s essentially the same reason why once the EU’s USB-C law goes into effect, the US versions will (probably) also switch to USB-C, even though it isn’t required.
“I’ve had one of my trademark changes of heart.”
