Apple answers the call for iPhone repairability

There’s a movement to make it possible to repair our gadgets ourselves instead of having to send them back to the company that makes them or, you know, just get a new one.

The “right to repair” movement in consumer electronics has made real gains in recent years. Several states, like California, New York and Oregon, have passed legislation requiring it. And it looks like Apple’s newest iPhone — the 16 — has made strides in that department.

Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Kyle Wiens, CEO of the online repair guide iFixit, about the iPhone 16’s improved repairability. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Kyle Wiens: So starting a couple years ago, Apple has been systematically working to improve repairability of the iPhone. The first thing they did was made it so you could open it from the front or the back, which makes it easier to replace things. It used to be if the back glass on your iPhone broke, it was a $550 repair, which is crazy for just a piece of glass. It doesn’t actually do anything, it’s just glass. So most people weren’t fixing that, they would just put a case on it. But that’s not ideal. And then what they’ve done with the new iPhone 16 is they actually changed the glue that they use on the battery. So the glue used to be this kind of awkward stretch-release adhesive. They’ve made it so that you can attach a power supply to the glue on the battery, and the glue just releases and the battery falls out.

Meghan McCarty Carino: Why is the battery such an important component on smartphones to be kind of easy to repair or replace?

Wiens: Our smartphones, the battery is most of the space inside your phone is taken up by the battery, and it’s a consumable. It’s a sack of chemicals that wears out. It’s designed to last a couple years, and then it’s designed to be replaced. We got into this attitude where we were like, well, we’re going to upgrade our phone every year or two anyway, so who cares about the battery? Well, we don’t live in that world anymore. Now, smartphones can last for much longer. There’s no reason to upgrade from [an iPhone] 14 to a 16. The 14s are perfectly fine, but it does need a new battery after two years. So I think everybody has to transition our thinking [to] wow, if I’m not going to get a new phone every two years, you definitely need to get a new battery for your current phone.

McCarty Carino: So it’s not just the hardware that has been improved, right? Also, there is this new iOS 18 repair assistant, a software thing that also has a good rating. How does this work?

Wiens: Apple’s built a software tool that’s kind of like a Carfax built into the phone. So you can go into your settings and you can look and see, hey, do I have the original screen? Do I have a new battery, that kind of thing. It gives you that information. It’s helpful to go in and see how old is my battery. It gives you a percentage that tells you how aged your battery is. One thing that we really appreciate is that Apple has said that on the new repair assistant, you’re going to be able to use third-party parts, so you don’t have to go back to Apple for an expensive battery. You can get an aftermarket battery that’s just as good, that’s going to be more affordable.

McCarty Carino: Why do you suppose Apple is making such big strides with repairability recently?

Wiens: We have been pushing Apple in this direction for a very long time. So iFixit, we’ve been around for 20 years. We’ve watched these things get less and less repairable. We’ve been very frustrated, and we have been releasing these repair scores. The previous iPhone, we only gave a 4 out of 10. It was a much lower score, and we and a lot of repair advocates have been calling Apple out for a variety of things that they had done that was really stopping repair in its tracks. Apple has started to shift direction here, and it’s been a combination of, you’ve got some good people in Apple that are working hard on this, but also it’s been driven by legislation. There’s been a variety of states, including legislation in Oregon and Colorado this year specifically aimed at opening up iPhone repairs to third-party parts.

McCarty Carino: So how do other recent smartphone releases, you know, from other companies compare in terms of their repairability?

Wiens: If you look at how to open and actually get into the phone, the iPhone is at the top of our list right now. Right after, there’s some small startups. There’s a company called Fairphone that makes an incredibly easy-to-repair phone, but you’ve never heard of that one. It’s not very widespread. So in terms of mass-market phones, the iPhone 16 — the base model iPhone 16, I should say — is the best phone out there. The pros are actually a little bit farther behind the base model iPhone. Google is a little bit behind Apple, but has been working hard at improving repairability, and Samsung is kind of at the bottom of the pack right now.

McCarty Carino: In general, how would you describe the landscape for repairability as all this right-to-repair stuff has kind of come to the fore in recent years? Are companies meeting the moment?

Wiens: Repairability is starting to be a factor. But it’s really hit or miss. You really have to do your research on products before you get [them.] The default out there is, if you buy a product that has a battery and you call the manufacturer and say, can I get a new battery for it? They’re not going to. And that’s totally unacceptable in this day and age with things that we want to last a long time. You know, Apple’s done a good job on the iPhone, but the AirPods, for example, which are very popular, are completely unrepairable. There’s no way they replace the batteries. So when the batteries wear out on the AirPods, you have to chuck them out, which is crazy. It’s hit or miss. That means there’s opportunities to be a smart consumer and go out and find products that are repairable, but you do have to do a little bit of work on it.

More on this

One company that’s become a focus for right-to-repair supporters has been farm equipment maker John Deere. Farmers have criticized the manufacturer for making it incredibly difficult to fix the equipment themselves.

The company signed an agreement last year with the American Farm Bureau Federation to let farmers buy the tools and manuals needed to make their own repairs.

And court filings made public last week show the Federal Trade Commission is also investigating Deere over repair restrictions.