As a result, this year’s repairability score reflects some incremental improvements in the repair process itself, but some scores have been downgraded due to the active political activity of the companies behind the scenes. school. Apple’s iPhone has jumped from an “F” rating last year to a “D.” Google’s Pixel phones retain the same “D” score, but with a slight increase in scores. Samsung remains stable in the “C” grade range for its phones. Microsoft’s notebooks still score a “D” overall, but a much closer score to a “C” this year. Almost all laptop manufacturers, with the exception of Lenovo, received higher scores: HP, Dell, Asus, and Acer all scored “B.”
However, despite the fact that Apple has upgraded the iPhone’s overall repairability, US PIRG alleges that its parts are still overpriced. And Apple’s Mac laptops still get an “F” because they’re “twice as difficult to open and repair as Dell laptops.” Samsung phones are still too hard to disassemble compared to Motorola phones. Motorola phones were determined to be the easiest to repair of the four manufacturers ranked, but they lost points for lack of components.
US PIRG said Apple lost the largest number of points overall due to the company actively lobbying against repair rights. And while Microsoft is not part of TechNet, one of the major trade groups engaged in such lobbying, Microsoft is a member of the Consumer Technology Association and has lobbied against SB. 983 of California.
Opponents of right to repair often point to concerns that making products easier to repair will compromise the safety and security of devices, although advocates of repair Have ridicule those arguments and accused the tech industry of being scared. TechNet, the trade organization representing a large segment of the industry, including Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta, HP, AirBnB, Uber and Lyft, reiterated its stance in a statement to WIRED that the law on repair rights as currently proposed would threaten the privacy and security of personal technology devices.
“Current repair bills in states across the country will require manufacturers of digital electronics to supply unapproved third parties,” said David Edmonson, vice president of TechNet. browse sensitive diagnostic information and trade secrets—without requiring any of the critical consumer protections provided by authorized repair networks. for state policy and government relations, said in an email. “Instead of government mandates and a series of one-size-fits-all fix rules creating more problems than answers, let the market continue to respond.”
The market did react – to an extent. Several years ago, Apple began actively expanding the scope of its Independent Repair Provider Program, which allows certified independent repair shops to repair Apple products using genuine Apple parts. Then, in November 2021, under more pressure to improve its repair capabilities, Apple announced a Self-Service Repair program, which began implementing parts, tools and manuals for iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 are available directly to customers. Samsung follows suit: August 2022, start provide customers with tools to perform their own repairs on Galaxy S20 and S21 smartphones, as well as Galaxy Tab S7+.
In April 2022, Google said it was working with fix company iFixit to make Google Pixel phones easier to repair. And Microsoft said late last year that it would deliver Surface laptop parts to consumers by 2023.
Proponents of the fix still see these moves as an attempt to thwart the legislation, as was the case with the recent memorandum of understanding (MOU) that John Deere signed with a national farm group. Theoretically, John Deere agreed to make tractor repair more accessible to farmers, even though the MOU was not enforceable. Part of the deal asked that the Federation of American Farm Bureaus “do not recommend, promote, or support federal or state Right to Repair legislation.”
