The era of fixing your own phone has nearly arrived
Fresh off big wins with Google, Samsung and Valve, iFixit says more parts deals are nigh
When I called up iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens, I figured he’d be celebrating — after years of fighting for right-to-repair, big name companies like Google and Samsung have suddenly agreed to provide spare parts for their phones. Not only that, they signed deals with him to sell those parts through iFixit, alongside the company’s repair guides and tools. So did Valve.
But Wiens says he’s not done making deals yet. “There are more coming,” he says, one as soon as a couple of months from now. (No, it’s not Apple.) Motorola was actually the first to sign on nearly four years ago. And if Apple meaningfully joins them in offering spare parts to consumers — like it promised to do by early 2022 — the era of fixing your own phone may have well and truly come...."
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"I fully expect tech companies will continue to resist right-to-repair in some ways, even while pretending to embrace it. (We’ve seen that from Apple before, and Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment this week about its Self Service Repair Program.) There are lots of ways for companies to screw around, like charging too much for parts or throwing up scary warnings — to its credit, Apple does seem to be backing off on that one.
And of course, they’ll continue to entice you to rapidly upgrade to new phones, like how carriers brought back the subsidy model last year to spur sales while society was still stuck at home, and how Apple is reportedly looking to sell the iPhone as a subscription service now.
But it sounds like when my iPhone mini’s battery expires and there’s no new mini to replace it, I’ll be able to swap the battery myself. And if not? I might take a hint and switch to a newly repairable Pixel."
This is a very well written informative article regarding fixing your own cellphone. Best to read the article in full and take notes.
What's your thoughts and experience as a notice in fixing your cellphone?
