Apple Makes iPhone Screen Fixes Easier as States Mull Repair Laws (reuters.com) 53
An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple customers will soon have more choices as the company looks to reduce long wait times for iPhone repairs at its retail stores. By the end of 2017, Apple will to put its proprietary machines for mending cracked iPhone glass in about 400 authorized third-party repair centers in 25 countries, company executives told Reuters. Among the first recipients is Minneapolis-based Best Buy, which has long sold and serviced Apple products. The electronics retailer already has one of the screen-repair machines at a Miami-area store and one coming soon to an outlet in Sunnyvale, California. Fixing cracked screens may seem like small potatoes, but it's a multi-billion-dollar global business. The move is also a major shift for Apple. The company had previously restricted use of its so-called Horizon Machine to its nearly 500 retail stores and mail-in repair centers; and it has guarded its design closely. The change also comes as eight U.S. states have launched "right to repair" bills aimed at prying open the tightly controlled repair networks of Apple and other high-tech manufacturers.
And other devices hopefully (Score:5, Insightful)
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Consider repair laws for Apple products, logically, is not software the same nature as hardware as a product and is not the end user entitled to repair laws to cover software as well. Not just iOS but Windows, they drop support aren't you the end user entitled to access product details in order to conduct your own repairs or have others do it?
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Given that all they have done is given three authorised repair centres replacement screens (and stated it will do more if the pilot works) and the device they use in AppleHQ to test the screens after fitting (something that isn't really needed... new genuine screen, if touch works it should work!) so that those three authorised apple service centres can actually repair a phone as opposed to being required by Apple to send it back to AppleHQ. This is basicly Apple allowing their authorised stores to do some
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Testing with this machine, a process that takes 15 minutes isn't necessary. There are simpler, faster, more practical ways to test a touchscreen... like turning on the phone and seeing if it responds to touch.
Apple is why I (reluctantly) stick with Thinkpads. (Score:1)
In contrast, my Lenovo Thinkpad's keyboard cost all but $10, and I replaced it myself in just a few minutes.
That, and they also have a service manual collection detailed enough to hint at potential mods.
I don't see Apple ever letting one of these [google.com] happening easily. Or even allowing raw logic boards to be in the hands of the "unwashed".
I also don't see them allowing enough documentation for various x220 screen upgrades, keyboard mods for x230's, or even an out-of-spec processor support upgrade [reddit.com] for a W520.
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Depends on which state you are in... Farming States, its the Tractors. States with high density urban areas such as NY its more the phones. Different cases for the same general problem.
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" For that you'd need an annealer, or a reflow bed. you'd also need to have moulds and castings and a polish/tempering system. thats not feasible in a machine the size of a microwave oven."
Lapidary/Glass worker here: We've got two tools the size of a microwave oven that does all of that for us. We've had them for over century. They're called a kiln and a flat lap/polisher. Those two tools alone do everything you just mentioned above.
What we do NOT have is the ability to repair the broken traces which usuall
Re:this isnt a glass repair machine. (Score:5, Insightful)
I doubt think anyone thinks it is. It's not a glass-repair device, it's a "broken screen on my phone" repair device - and as with virtually all repairs these days, the solution is no to repair the broken component, but to replace it.
That Apple has chosen to integrate the most failure prone component with others that are security sensitive almost certainly has at least as much do do with revenue generation as it does with otherwise solid design goals.
A responsible engineer satisfying the social responsibility aspect of their professional ethics would make sure the most failure-prone components are as cheap and easy to replace as possible. If you repair older appliances and machinery you can see this principle clearly - there's usually a number of easily-replaceable "sacrificial" components that are designed to absorb the majority of normal wear and/or out-of-spec stresses.
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"there's usually a number of easily-replaceable "sacrificial" components that are designed to absorb the majority of normal wear and/or out-of-spec stresses."
OTOH, when you do this the people then complain that they're designed to fail in order to nickel-and-dime the consumer.
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This is true - but at least the people who know what they're talking about will know you lived up to your responsibilities.
On the other hand, there are a lot of legitimate complaints on that front too. It's a balancing act to be sure.
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If you repair older appliances and machinery you can see this principle clearly - there's usually a number of easily-replaceable "sacrificial" components that are designed to absorb the majority of normal wear and/or out-of-spec stresses.
Somebody explain this to Mercury Marine. Their raw water pumps usually end up destroying the pump housing, a costly part to replace.
Worse yet, the rubber impeller usually destroys itself after about two seasons (or less) and it's pretty much impossible to replace the impeller without removing the entire pump assembly because Mercury engineers were too lazy to do anything other than make it yet another belt-drive accessory in a nearly inaccessible location.
I've always wondered if all this was just deliberat
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Yes its screen replacement rather than repair as such. The button/fingerprint sensor, with care, if not broken (and it rarely is) can be detached from the old screen and attached to the new, as can the touch digitiser if it is undamaged, reducing new components needed and cost. If Apple are replacing these otherwise working components every time it's wasteful, costing the consumer more than needed, and makes me sad.
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Only because you went to the cheapest, crappiest, dodgiest repair person operating out of the back of his van you will never be able to find again. Go to a good established and internet reviewed repair shop that will offer a warranty on their work your repair experience will be much better.
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The only "calibration" need would be to align the glass over the display properly.
Delegation would actually be better. (Score:1)
what this machine likely does is handle the delicate process of calibration, alignment, and most importantly replacement of the biometric sensor on the device. the access control and authentication from the reader to the rest of the phone is likely a highly guarded component as its used to access encryption keys for the device itself. these machines might contain a copy of sensitive intermediary or signing certificates used to rekey the phone. If Right To Repair passes, Apple could likely delegate the PKI straight to the user with an itunes API or something. replacing the button means you're in charge of generating the certificates.
That way, at least the button can be replaced without having to resort to Apple magic, just like everyone else on the planet.
Still no competition (Score:3)
Among the first recipients is Minneapolis-based Best Buy, which has long sold and serviced Apple products.
And I am sure as part of the agreement, Best Buy will charge a price that was decided by Apple. Oh, and don't forget about forcing their employees to try and upsell on a warranty for the repair-valid only at Best Buy of course.
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Don't forget that the Best Buy employees will "Need the password to your device to ensure repairs are effectively performed/video drivers are installed" while they surreptitiously snoop on your shit for the FBI.
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The thing that really grinds my gears about the Best Buy + FBI partnership is that most of the "Geeks" on the Geek Squad are probably easily motivated by the $100(?) bonus the FBI would give them for finding illegal porn on the customer's computer. They may have been so motivated that they could just put some illegal porn on the customer's computer and called up some of Comey's minions for the reward. What's stopping them from doing that?
It's almost as if (Score:5, Insightful)
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Government Regulation, or even the threat of it, works.
It's only because of patent law that these third party repair machines haven't been able to exist already.
Not in this case (Score:2)
Where government regulation would help is in preventing Apple from bricking your phone if you have it repaired by a non-authorized repair center [theguardian.com]. But even then it's only necessary because of government copyright and patent laws which prevent said third parties from
There are no wait times (Score:2)
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No they wouldn't. They are only doing this now due to the number of States considering right to repair in a PR attempt to fend it off. Apple if left to themselves would have quite happily continued to take two weeks to replace a screen (sending it to HQ for fixing) or when they think they can get away with it, declaring your phone "unfixable" and exchanging your phone (with paying 50% of its value new) for a refurb unit that was previously "unfixable" until they fixed and repackaged it.
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Threats don't cost them anything so they must have reason to believe it's not a threat. For whatever reason Apple have arrived at the tipping point where the cost of providing these machines becomes less than the cost of not providing them. It certainly won't be because of benefit to customers.
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Whether it works or not is determined by whether the government action actually achieves the desired outcome and without making the situation worse.
That is sometimes the case. But far too often when the regulation fails to work there is also a failure to roll it back in a timely fashion and so the damage continues.
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Having trouble learning a programming language? Have the government threaten Oracle or Microsoft.
Drop your iphone? Have the government start threatening the companies that make the stuff you want.
My daughter slept in too late. Sure, send the cops to her bedroom.
Problem solved!
Or we could (Score:2)
b. Require the iPhone to be repariable.
c. Hold school later in the day as study after study shows is optimal while having a proper mass transit system so they kids can get there.
d. Stop pretending the free market exists, let alone can solve problems more important than a twinkie.
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Looks like you are trying to establish a quaint notion that it is the job of the gover
imac's as well so you can change ram / storage car (Score:2)
imac's as well so you can change ram / storage cards after buying the system.
the 5K imac pro with only 32G / 1TB (1 slot?) base with no way easy open is a joke.
Yeah, take it to Best Buy. (Score:2)
Later all of your photos will show up on the web.
The "Horizon Machine" doesn't repair glass (Score:1)
This is not an article about glass. It is an article about cryptography.
You can't repair broken glass on a phone screen. Or at least, you can't replace it without a full factory worth of equipment. What this Apple-produced machine does is reset your phone's security system to accept data from a new fingerprint-scanning home button. When an iPhone leaves the factory, the fingerprint scanner is uniquely paired with the rest of the phone's security system using hardware-level encryption. You can replace the sc
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I wouldn't be surprised to see the next Wikileaks dump talk about how the NSA sent agents to get hired at Best Buy to get access to this machine so they could reverse engineer the iPhone's security.
Maybe NSA already has one of these machines, so Apple figures they may as well make them available to third parties, too.
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So it's a machine that can make ink cartridges "authorized".
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Or at least, you can't replace it without a full factory worth of equipment
Yes you can. Easily with a little practice and care. It only takes a screwdriver and a heat lamp. "unauthorised" repair shops do it many times daily. There are "unqualified" (according to Apple) people managing to replace them day in day out around the world. The only issue is as they are unable to source the screens direct from Apple they can have issues finding quality screens to use. The machine Apple is touting so much is only used for QA testing and isn't needed to actually replace a screen, just t
More PR than anything else... (Score:1)
Apple vs. FBI (Score:2)
Ironic that while Apple is battling illegal FBI warrants on one front, it's working to enrich Best Buy which the FBI use[s,d] illegally to avoid warrants.
How long until it is cloned? (Score:1)
It doesn't matter that they bribed a few places with tools, it matters that the processes are known and available to any person (like many of their competitors).