While I personally wish Apple would be more supportive of 3rd party or at-home repairs, I think what they've been doing there actually helps with extending the life of their devices.
Let's say you're thinking of buying a used iPhone. If you had reason to believe that used iPhones were mostly repaired by 3rd parties that didn't necessarily know what they're doing, or were using cheap or even dangerous (in the case of batteries) parts. Would you buy used, or would go just buy some cheap new phone? And if people weren't interested in buying, would you bother trying to sell your old phone or would you just throw it away?
Making sure the quality of second-hand market is high is essential to encouraging re-use. I think a lot of those who are criticising Apple when it comes to repair should remember that. It's not that they're wrong in saying that Apple should support 3rd party repair, but their complaints are not gonna come to much unless what they propose is actually reasonable.. i.e. makes it easier for 3rd parties to repair iPhones while maintaining a healthy second-hand market for iPhones. And that's not easy.
Let's say you're thinking of buying a used iPhone. If you had reason to believe that used iPhones were mostly repaired by 3rd parties that didn't necessarily know what they're doing, or were using cheap or even dangerous (in the case of batteries) parts. Would you buy used, or would go just buy some cheap new phone? And if people weren't interested in buying, would you bother trying to sell your old phone or would you just throw it away?
Making sure the quality of second-hand market is high is essential to encouraging re-use. I think a lot of those who are criticising Apple when it comes to repair should remember that. It's not that they're wrong in saying that Apple should support 3rd party repair, but their complaints are not gonna come to much unless what they propose is actually reasonable.. i.e. makes it easier for 3rd parties to repair iPhones while maintaining a healthy second-hand market for iPhones. And that's not easy.