On paper, this new self-service repair service, launched at the end of April 2022, is a very good idea. It is based on an official site which allows you to consult the official repair manuals and to order the original spare parts – more than 200 – and the tools.
The apple brand does not take the subject lightly. Apple will send you – at its expense – two large suitcases full of tools including heated presses to soften the glue that holds the screen or the battery. The whole thing weighs… 35 kilos! Count 1,300 dollars (about 1,233 euros) to buy or 49 dollars (46.50 euros) to rent for a week, plus the deposit (1,300 euros).
These two suitcases, after seven days, you will have to entrust them to a carrier who will ensure their return, certainly at Apple’s expense, but you are beginning to understand the complexity of the project. And the repair hasn’t even started!
A repair that you will have to do yourself, carefully following each step described in the manual. Apple repeats that this service should be reserved for experienced users, who are used to these repairs and know the procedure and the tools.
In any case, if you carry out a repair within this very specific framework, the warranty will be preserved but you will not be covered if you break a part during the repair. Part that you will have to replace at your expense. Ultimately, knowing the internal complexity of the latest iPhones, think very seriously before embarking on this adventure, unless you want to learn or start your own repair business. But given the price at which Apple sells the original parts, it doesn’t really make sense.
In the United States, Apple charges $69, all-inclusive parts and labor, for an iPhone 12 or 13 battery replacement in its stores. However, the spare kit with the battery and the screws is sold at the same price (69 dollars) on the site. Now let’s take an iPhone 12 Pro Max screen: 312 dollars on the site and 329 in the Apple store for a complete replacement. And therefore, 17 small dollars difference, barely 15 euros, which does not cover the time you will spend there, nor the risk, nor the rental of the tools.
What interest then? The interest, it is for Apple which, for 15 years, has turned a deaf ear to requests around the right to repairability, a subject that has become major because of environmental issues. In the United States, the legislator seized it last July, with a first decree and Tim Cook, the boss of Apple, was obliged to show a sign of good will.
For their part, a month ago, Samsung and then Google signed a partnership with iFixit, the American reference site for repairability, to distribute manuals and spare parts for the Galaxy S20 and S21 and Google Pixel 2 to 6. Here too, the arrival of this service in Europe is on the program before the end of the year.