John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, expressed, “At Apple, we’re continually seeking ways to enhance customer experiences while minimizing our environmental impact by creating durable products. Over the past two years, various teams within Apple have been dedicated to innovating product design and manufacturing to support repairs with pre-owned Apple parts without compromising safety, security, or privacy. With this latest expansion of our repair program, we're thrilled to provide customers with even more choices and convenience, while contributing to the longevity of our products and components.”
Critical to maintaining the privacy, security, and safety of iPhones is the process of confirming the authenticity of repair parts and gathering pertinent information, often referred to as “pairing.” Apple teams have diligently worked over the past two years to enable the reuse of parts such as biometric sensors used for Face ID or Touch ID. Starting this fall, calibration for genuine Apple parts, whether new or pre-owned, will occur on the device post-installation. Additionally, future iPhone releases will support pre-owned biometric sensors.
To streamline the repair process, customers and service providers will no longer be required to provide a device’s serial number when ordering parts from the Self Service Repair Store for repairs not involving the replacement of the logic board. To combat iPhone theft, Apple will extend its Activation Lock feature to iPhone parts, discouraging the disassembly of stolen iPhones for parts.
Requested by customers and law enforcement officials, this feature inhibits iPhone theft by preventing a lost or stolen iPhone from being reactivated. If a device under repair detects that a supported part was sourced from another device with Activation Lock or Lost Mode enabled, calibration capabilities for that part will be restricted. As device longevity increases, Apple recognizes the importance of providing full part and repair histories to second or third owners.
With Parts and Service History, accessible within Settings on iOS, Apple stands as the sole smartphone company transparently showcasing owners whether their device has undergone repairs and providing details about the parts used. This fall, Apple will expand Parts and Service History to additionally indicate whether a part is new or pre-owned genuine Apple. This forthcoming enhancement to Apple’s repair processes underscores the company’s dedication to enhancing access to safe and cost-effective repairs.
Over the past five years, Apple has nearly doubled the number of service locations with access to genuine Apple parts, tools, and training, reaching over 10,000 Independent Repair Providers and Apple Authorized Service Providers. For individuals with relevant experience in repairing electronic devices, Self Service Repair grants access to manuals, genuine Apple parts, and tools utilized at Apple Store and Apple Authorized Service Provider locations. Launched in 2022, Self Service Repair now supports 40 Apple products across 33 countries and regions, available in 24 languages.
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