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New EU law requires devices to be repairable - Every phone, television or washing machine you buy in Europe must be easier to repair starting tomorrow. That’s when the European Right to Repair Act tak (www.nporadio1.nl)
submitted 2 months ago* by to c/technology@lemmy.world
282 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The products covered by the obligation to repair currently include:

  • washing machines and washer-dryers
  • dishwashers
  • refrigerators
  • electronic displays
  • welding equipment
  • servers and data storage products
  • mobile phones, cordless phones and tablets
  • tumble dryers 
  • e-bikes and e-scooters batteries (from 18 February 2027)
  • local space heaters
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[–] 152 points 2 months ago (42 children)

"Hold my beer" - Nintendo, releasing an EU centric revision. Meanwhile Apple and Samsung are digging up every legal loophole to prevent the law applying to their devices.

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  • [–] 59 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Apple and Samsung be like: "It's not a mobile phone or a tablet, it's a phablet so it does not fall in to any category of the devices that need to be repairable."

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  • [–] 24 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)

    The loophole in the directive is smaller phones. Smartphones go from 10.16 cm (4 inches) diagonal to 17. 78cm (7 inches) and everything bigger (up to 44.2 cm) is a tablet.

    Samsung and Apple's flagship smartphones are very close to be considered tablets but that wouldn't save them from the requirements.

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  • [+] -91 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (36 children)

    iPhones are already super easy to repair. Apple have been at the forefront of this for years.

    For the downvoters who are too blinded by their hate for Apple to believe facts:

    https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/smartphone-repairability-scores

    PROS
    • Display and battery repairs are well-prioritized, though not as well as in other (dual-entry) iPhone models.
    • Torx screws secure the battery assembly in place, making replacements straightforward.
    • Repair parts and instructions are available straight from Apple.
    CONS
    • Five different screwhead types and the continued reliance on adhesives complicate basic repairs.
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  • [–] 86 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Are we talking about the same apple that invented a new type of screw to keep people from taking their phones apart? The same apple that once people could get a trilobe driver, then made it so that generic replacement screens would not work because of some protection from non-apple hardware? Then went on to make sure that you can't use non-apple parts in a laptop?

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  • [+] -27 points 2 months ago

    Yes.

    https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/smartphone-repairability-scores

    PROS
    • Display and battery repairs are well-prioritized, though not as well as in other (dual-entry) iPhone models.
    • Torx screws secure the battery assembly in place, making replacements straightforward.
    • Repair parts and instructions are available straight from Apple.
    CONS
    • Five different screwhead types and the continued reliance on adhesives complicate basic repairs.
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  • [–] 55 points 2 months ago (12 children)

    the same apple that locks individual parts of devices to user accounts so that they can't be used for repair?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (6 children)

    Sounds like this is to prevent theft for parts. Considering it says right there that parts can be unlocked with the user's account. So it's the same mechanism that makes a stolen iPhone non-functional unless unlocked by the user.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (5 children)

    sure but what if you buy one for parts?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (4 children)

    Ask the previous owner to remove the locking, same way as they would need to if you bought the device to use it. What's the problem?

    Again, says right there they should just remove the device from ‘Find my’, which disables Activation Lock, the very same feature that prevents theft for reselling the device for regular use.

    Instead of using Repair Assistant to unlock the part, you can remove Activation Lock using Find My.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (3 children)

    what if the phone is broken and has been disassembled?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (2 children)

    The internet doesn't stop existing when your phone breaks.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago* (1 child)

    no but i'm not talking about me. i'm talking about tyler, 27, who just gets a new phone and doesn't care about whatever accounts the old one had, so he throws it away and now the parts are available at a repair shop.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    From Apple's side, this situation is indistinguishable from the phone having been stolen.

    P.S. Although maybe there's a way to learn to what account a part is locked, and write to them 'hey bro, could you please unlock this phone you threw away'. Then again, the repair shop also can't know that the phone wasn't stolen.

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  • [+] -25 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

    Same Apple. Signing new parts to your device is incredibly simple and DIY now.

    https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/smartphone-repairability-scores

    PROS
    • Display and battery repairs are well-prioritized, though not as well as in other (dual-entry) iPhone models.
    • Torx screws secure the battery assembly in place, making replacements straightforward.
    • Repair parts and instructions are available straight from Apple.
    CONS
    • Five different screwhead types and the continued reliance on adhesives complicate basic repairs.
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  • [–] 17 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    ...but only if you buy the parts new.

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  • [+] -7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

    I wouldn’t want to be putting second hand parts in my phone when repairing it. I can’t imagine there are many second hand screens or batteries around for sale given they’re the things that are replaced the most.

    Not that I’d ever want a second hand screen or battery anyway.

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  • [–] 32 points 2 months ago (8 children)

    Super easy to repair by certified repair shops or easy to repair by people at home with minimal tool requirements?

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  • [+] -26 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (7 children)

    At home with minimal tool requirements

    https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/smartphone-repairability-scores

    PROS
    • Display and battery repairs are well-prioritized, though not as well as in other (dual-entry) iPhone models.
    • Torx screws secure the battery assembly in place, making replacements straightforward.
    • Repair parts and instructions are available straight from Apple.
    CONS
    • Five different screwhead types and the continued reliance on adhesives complicate basic repairs.

    Company that rates self repairability of phones: iPhones are easy to repair by yourself using basic tools

    Lemmy: no, that can’t be true because we hate apple

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    Not bad by the standards of modern phones, but hopefully not good enough for the new EU standards. Imo adhesives should only be used if they're replaceable or reusable and the screws should be limited to philips and flatheads.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    hard disagree on the screws:

    philps and flatheads can be damaged too easily: torx or nothing!

    these teeny tiny screws are really finicky and both philips and flatheads are prone to slipping, causing faster wear and easily leading to stripped screws...

    any design that is inherently resistant to that is a must for small parts!

    source: worked in a repair shop ;)

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Sure thing, I don't care much about the specific screw type, just that it's a type that's commonly available so you don't need a unique screwdriver for each device you own.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    No thank you on the flathead or Philips head screws, they get burred too easily which would basically leave your phone unrepairable.

    The less adhesives the better though, agreed there. Their phones are already definitely self-repairable enough for the new EU rules.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago (5 children)

    I have to admit that I haven't checked ifix scores for a hot minute and am surprised that since the iphone 15 Apple consistently beats all other big brands in reparability score. Before that of course they were bad, which is probably why people remember them that way. I like that trend, hopefully Samsung and Google also hop on that bandwaggon any time soon.

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  • [–] -3 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    Strange that 73 other people, 30+ of who downvoted long after I added the proof, think that ifixit are wrong.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Personally I downvoted you because you completely forgive/forget the older devices from Apple.

    They had sold approximately 2.2 billions of impossible to repair devices before they kind of changed course with the iPhone 14 line.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 months ago*

    But those devices don’t have to meet these laws, so they’re irrelevant.

    I also didn’t say they have always been great, I said they’ve been at the forefront for years, which is true. Their recent phones are easier to repair than almost any other phones on the market.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (3 children)

    well, one thing that surely is not repairable about apple is their software. you can't fix their operating system by installing a more meaningful alternative to it on your device, can you?

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  • [–] -1 points 2 months ago* (2 children)

    What a ridiculous and pointless comment.

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