This is such a bad article, I half suspect it's astroturfing and food intended for Apple apologists. It's focused on a single small part of the problem and unnecessarily misrepresented it.<p>As a reminder of the broader picture: Apple has a strong anti-repair stance, they have lobbied for this [1], have engaged in broad, deceptive strategies to remove 3rd party repair options, by confiscating legally refurbished hardware under the guise of "counterfeits" [2], attempting to confiscate grey market parts under the guise of "trademark violation" and threatening the 3rd party repair shops [3]. They profit from this continued attack by deceiving customers into expensive unnecessary part replacements, suggesting repair is not possible and generally coercing customers into buying new products instead [4].<p>[1] <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180126/07355539089/apple-verizon-continue-to-lobby-against-right-to-repair-your-own-devices.shtml" rel="nofollow">https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180126/07355539089/apple...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://boingboing.net/2018/10/20/louis-rossman.html" rel="nofollow">https://boingboing.net/2018/10/20/louis-rossman.html</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3yadk/apple-sued-an-independent-iphone-repair-shop-owner-and-lost" rel="nofollow">https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3yadk/apple-sued-an-inde...</a><p>[4] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2_SZ4tfLns" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2_SZ4tfLns</a>
> By activating a dormant software lock on their newest iPhones, Apple is effectively announcing a drastic new policy: only Apple batteries can go in iPhones, and only they can install them.<p>I really dislike the phrasing attached to this story.<p>It's not a lock: a third party installed battery still <i>works</i>, the phone isn't refusing to start up until you go to an Apple Store and have an authentic Apple(tm) battery installed. Rather, it's a warning in the "battery health" section basically saying "we don't know if your battery is any good, you might need to get it replaced".<p>That said, I'd prefer a clearer phrasing of their error message. It looks like it's just triggering the generic "your battery may need service" warning, which is more of a scare tactic than I'd like. "You don't have a certified Apple battery" would be completely sufficient.<p>Given the existence of refurbishment scams, where substandard parts are put into old phones to make them look good briefly, I can understand where Apple is coming from on this point. Someone who buys a second-hand iPhone and finds the battery dies after a month isn't going to be very happy with iPhones.
<i>> Now, I’m not sure that Apple has thus far triggered that kill switch. But they can do so at any time. </i><p>This is just scaremongering. Apple has not, in fact, triggered a "kill switch" or "locked" anyone out of using a 3rd party battery.<p>All it does is display a message that it's not a genuine Apple part. Deep in the battery settings. That's it.<p>Remember that old iPhones are frequently resold. You're going to want to know if it has OEM parts.
Lots of Apple apologists in this thread.<p>(1) They deliberately design new proprietary adapters, eschewing already popular and capable standards, in new devices - to sell you more shit<p>(2) They remove support for existing standards (e.g. headphone jacks) - to sell you more shit<p>(3) They file lawsuits against third-party repair providers who do a demonstrably better job than first-party repairs - to sell you more shit<p>(4) They add software checks which attempts to subvert the same third-party repair providers after their lawsuits fail - to sell you more shit<p>Apple consistently, at every step, serves their bottom line ahead of your interests. Quit letting tribalism blind you, Apple users - this behavior is unacceptable.
So Apple's take is probably: A bunch of people get mad when their iPhones stop working, start running slow, etc; research data shows that when they need a battery replaced, they're more likely to go to the local third party (non-authorized) repair shop and get it replaced. We have no idea how skilled or unskilled these repair shops are, even if they use genuine Apple batteries. Our best bet for maintaining the reputation of our product is to make sure only Genius bar or AASP staff install the batteries and run the necessary diagnostics post-install.<p>I don't agree that they should be doing the battery authentication thing, replacing your battery is pretty easy and simple; but you have to look at this from Apple's standpoint:<p>Yes, Louis Rossmann runs a repair shop that is better than the Genius bar in every way and, should he join Apple, all of their repairability issues would disappear overnight. The issue is that many (most likely a majority) of local computer repair shops that get asked "can you fix this battery error on my iPhone" aren't on par with Louis Rossmann and will make mistakes such as improper installation, not re-sealing the phone for water resistance, using non-genuine batteries, etc. Apple could, by all means, make the process easier, cheaper, and more idiot-proof, but that would require engineering efforts. The best course of action, both for making money from repairs and not losing money to engineering and possible product changes ("don't sacrifice form for function", at least under Jony Ive), is to get the software to verify that Apple had complete control over the replacement battery from factory to phone.
I'm done with Apple. How can a computer company knowingly ship a product with a keyboard that breaks within a few months for three whole generations?<p>Mine lasted just 4 months and I was advised to invest in a silicone cover for it. Which is absurd for a $1500 laptop. And they made it sound like it was just a minor issue - "oh everything works great except the keyboard". As if a laptop without a keyboard isn't practically useless.<p>My wife's Macbook Air developed an issue last week after installing the latest OS update. The computer would just freeze randomly making it impossible to use. Apple Support said that it was a known issue with the update. A known issue that was still released?!<p>I moved to Apple because I was frustrated with Windows. But even the $400 Windows I've owned in the past gave me at least 2 years with their keyboards. And Windows has been painfully slow and error prone, but no update has ever crippled my laptop as the last macOS update did my wife's Macbook Air.<p>If you're going to charge me a massive premium for a product, at least make sure that it works.<p>Sorry for ranting here, but these two issues happened within a week of each other and I've just been angry and disappointed
Lots of people here to defend Apple in-spite of their outright anti-consumer stance against right to repair. In this case they could have shown a warning with option to permanently choose to remove/ignore, Instead of scary permanent "service" Message.
People hasn't understood yet that even if they pay over $1500 for a phone, they're still not the owner of that hardware. And this concept is already deep integrated in Smart TVs or all other IoT gadgets around there.
Fortunately, we have still some choices, concerning PCs, but on the Apple side, the war is lost
The irony is this is such a big issue because iphones are one of the few products they make that are both easily repairable and expensive enough to be worth repairing. Nimble fingers and the right screwdriver and it all comes apart and back together again unlike many rival sealed glued products.
If a message displayed by the first-party software is an intentional message that obfuscates the true status of the device for the benefit of the manufacturer, is this not fraud?
Apple Care isn’t that expensive - I’ve rarely had an apple product break that hasn’t been free or under $100 to have fixed at the Apple store.<p>Louis Rossmann is the best, but I’ve never really encountered a reason to care about Right to Repair...