If you need to replace anything other than your iPhone 8's battery or display, good luck

iFixit’s teardown of the new iPhone 8 confirms that the screen and battery remain relatively replaceable, despite the addition of Qi-compatible wireless charging coils in the unit. Overall the site gives the 8 6/10 for repairability… the same score as last year. The iPhone 3GS in 2009 was given a 7/10 and only needed three …

[Lee D]

Honestly don't get why people buy stuff that they don't stand a chance of even other people fixing.

I deliberately didn't buy certain models of cars because they are basically irreparable unless you're the manufacturer, and I don't want to pay those kinds of prices into perpetuity, thanks. I never liked Monopoly.

Why you'd buy a phone that (last time I looked) cost £70 for a screen that wasn't even a proper Apple replacement part and voided all warranties, I'm not even sure. Especially when those kinds of damages were frequent (never met anyone with an iPhone over 2 years old that's not smashed on the screen at least), and often took out touchscreen / buttons / cameras too.

Have literally dropped my phone down concrete steps, out of windows, etc. and never had a problem even without any kind of case. However, have sent one guy's iPhone off for repair for broken screens no less than 7 times, each time the repair is more dodgy because you just can't repair it properly. And that's from a company with an exclusive deal with us for repairing 100's of iPads too.

If you can't google a replacement part, slap it on yourself, then I don't see why you'd want it. You might as well drive a Peugeot or something where you have to dismantle the rear axle to change the front headlight bulb, or things equally as ridiculous.

I honestly don't get how this rates even a 4, let alone a 6, on any kind of repairability scale, and I don't get why people continue to buy those phones, whine about the repair costs, then expect me to somehow magically fix them for free when I told them not to buy them.

[Semtex451]

Yea lets make phones from Lego.

Lego phones would be sexy.

[Mr. Matt]

Lego Phones

My Belkin Lego phone case has protected my iPhone from many a drop for the last two years.

['s water music]

Lego phones would be sexy.

I agree, but I am not sure whether I should upvote or downvote the PP to indicate this

[ecarlseen]

Simple

Because for many people the risk of damage multiplied by the cost of repair (your anticipated spending amount on damaged phones or whatever) is not material. That is to say, it doesn't affect their lives in any meaningful way. So it's perfectly rational for them to not care.

Other people are taking a calculated risk. Other people use high-protection cases. Some are just thoughtless morons chasing fads (meaning really that they value others' opinions of them based on their phone selection more than they value fiscal sanity - still moronic, but at least explicable).

And then there are people who care deeply about reparability even though the cost is immaterial because they value a culture of not wasting things more than they care about the fiscal economics. There's nothing wrong with this either, as long as it's deliberate and understood (it's perfectly alright to value some things more than money - in fact, it's often a good thing).

If you do fix them for free, then you're distorting their economic calculations. So don't do that.

[Anonymous Coward]

I must be luckly then...

I've been using smart phones for over seven years now and have not broken (or even scratched) a single screen.

Never needed to replace a battery either, though I think the one in the six year old 4S is getting close.

[Ogi]

Re: I must be luckly then...

> I've been using smart phones for over seven years now and have not broken (or even scratched) a single screen.

Indeed you must be lucky, living proof of balance in the universe perhaps, as you sound like my polar opposite! My phones (all Samsungs) survive on average 2 months from new before they get a scratch, or a broken screen. At one point I went through effectively 5 phones in a year (well, 2 actual phones, but I would repair one while using the other, and vice versa)

Once I broke down and bought the thickest, most armored case I could find for my Samsung S4 (armored front and back, with screen protector) and somehow even that didn't save the screen from cracking when it fell.

Needless to say I buy phones for ability to be repaired by me, otherwise things would get very expensive. I so miss my old Nokia 3210. Never broke a single thing on it, no matter how many times it fell. The n900 was a solid beast as well, as were the n810's (they tended to dent, being metal, but continued working fine)

[Anonymous Coward]

@Ogi

So why don't you get that Motorola with the shatterproof plastic screen? Obviously it'll scratch much more easily, but a good screen protector should fix that.

[Ogi]

@DougS

> So why don't you get that Motorola with the shatterproof plastic screen? Obviously it'll scratch much more easily, but a good screen protector should fix that.

1) I didn't know about them

2) I like the OLED screens on the Samsungs

3) I've gotten quite apt at repair of Samsungs, and have the tools for it

4) despite shattering, the screens and touchpad keep working, so I can still use the phone. This is a godsend, because if the phone breaks an a very inopportune moment, I don't have to rush to buy one there and then, but can (somewhat) use it till I get home and switch with the other one. I think only once did a phone break so badly the screen didn't work.

5) unlocked bootloaders, so I can run custom ROMs

6) They have an external antenna port, which is useful when I am in the car, or somewhere with poor signal.

Those are my reasons. Although it is getting harder and harder to find up to date ROMs for the old phones, and the new ones with integrated battery + everything else don't interest me. As such, my next phone may well be one of those Chinese ones off aliexpress. They seem pretty good, and still have things like micro SD slots, removable batteries, etc...

[Stuart Elliott]

Re: I must be luckly then...

> At one point I went through effectively 5 phones in a year

Surely that's indicative of the phone user, not an issue with the phone, if you can afford the £1k for the phone, you can afford the 2 year Apple Care for it to be fixed/replaced.

[Ogi]

Re: I must be luckly then...

> Surely that's indicative of the phone user, not an issue with the phone, if you can afford the £1k for the phone, you can afford the 2 year Apple Care for it to be fixed/replaced.

I never said it wasn't. However if I break the phone, I like to be able to repair it quickly, and myself, rather than have to take it to someone else to repair, wait for it to be done, returned to me (possibly working, possibly not, in which case send it back again).

Plus if I CBA to do it, there is a local Kiosk at the end of my road where the guy will fix them for £30-£50 within the next 2 hours for me.

Funny thing is, I could afford a £1k phone, just that I wouldn't want to. I would rather spend £1k on upteen other things in the world. I can smell a bad deal even if I can afford the cost of said deal.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I must be luckly then...

I've been using smart phones for over seven years now and have not broken (or even scratched) a single screen.

I have been using iPhones since the 3GS, and I have as yet to break a single one of them. However, I tend to fit a booklet style case and a oleophobic film as pretty much the first thing after I unbox a new phone (failing that, when I get home) so by the time I replace it the phone still looks pretty much as new and unscratched. I also don't stick it in a back pocket.

A large part of how easy it breaks is how well you treat it. Aside from that, because there's not that much variety in iPhone models it's rather easy to find spare parts and someone who knows how to fit them. That gets more complicated with Droids due to the large variety of models.

It's worth noting that Apple has thus made the parts that may need replacement the exact ones that CAN be replaced. That's quite a nudge towards the repair market.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I must be luckly then...

Like the AC I've been using iPhones since the 3gs and have never broken one (now I'm in for it, having said that out loud!) and I've never used a case or screen protector on them either. I've dropped them on concrete sidewalks a few times, but other than some scuffs on the corner where they landed they were fine.

My current phone is a 6s plus, and I've dropped it on a wood floor once or twice but not concrete, so no scuffs. Fortunately the floor is old growth and very hard, so it wasn't damaged either! Strangely though, there is a small but fairly deep scratch on the upper left corner of the screen. Its only visible when the screen is off, or I feel for it. Have no idea what could have possibly done that, it isn't like I keep the sort of sharp objects that would be required for that in my pockets. Doesn't affect anything, but I wonder if I might be dinged a bit when I trade it in since the screen isn't perfect like the others I've traded.

Would have been interesting if Apple could have got those sapphire screens worked out. Strange they went to all that effort and didn't try again with someone else. Maybe the hundreds of millions they lost on the effort was enough to sour them on the idea. The liquid metal stuff never went anywhere either. Guess it is a lot harder than the rumor mill makes it sound to deploy new materials in products that sell a quarter billion units a year.

[kmac499]

Re: I must be luckly then...

I deduce therefore you are not, a teenage girl who insists on jamming a few hundred quids worth of phone in her already over stretched jeans back pocket. then wonders why the screen has cracked.. .

[Mark 110]

Agree completely. I have only once needed a replacement battery and HTC did it for £50 which I thought OK. Not great. OK

I have never broken my screen. Scratched it badly once, while shitfaced on a beach in Barcelona at 3am at San Juan, but never cracked or smashed it. Yet every 3rd iPhone user seems to have a smashed screen. Is it iPhone users that are shoddy or the hardware?

[AndrueC]

In 17 years of owning a mobile phone I've broken one once. An HTC Desire. Quite a memorable day actually. I was temporarily redundant and had two job interviews that day. The first was in Banbury and easy to get to. The other in the depths of industrial Milton Keynes.

So I had to use the Desire to navigate me to the second one. It got me there just fine but as I was leaving the interview I took my suit jacket off and put it over my arm. And the phone slipped straight out of the top pocket and hit the carpark, cracking the display. The damage was so bad the display just wouldn't work.

Realising that I was getting a lot of important calls I knew I had to get another phone. So I decided to go into MK centre. Except..I'm not familiar with MK and I knew that would be a challenge. With the help of the road atlas I keep in the car and a bit of common sense (follow the main roads) I was able to get to the shopping centre. I parked up and went to pay..using my mobile phone. Uh oh. And I live a cashless life so there was nothing other than an old five pound note in my wallet.

Luckily I found 40p in the console of my car and that turned out to be the minimum charge for parking where I was. So then I had to walk half a mile to the shopping centre in crappy shoes and a suit. Oh and it started to snow. Then I had to wander around looking for a phone shop. When I found one I braced myself for a hard sell.

But that was the most amazing part. I don't know if it was the suit or a look of desperation on my face but when I approached a young assistant (stunning blue eyes) and asked if there was an equivalent phone she just got a Desire HD from stock, and ran my card. No attempt to upsell. Just pay for the phone, wait while she put my old sim in it and off I went.

[Anonymous Coward]

Quite a memorable day actually. I was temporarily redundant and had two job interviews that day. The first was in Banbury and easy to get to. The other in the depths of industrial Milton Keynes.

I was on a Rail Replacement Bus service that started at Milton Keynes run by Fraser Eagle supposedly going to Coventry. To quote Ira Gerswhin "It all began so well - but what an end". We started of well enough having loaded the coach with people eager to leave Milton Keynes. Then after leaving the station disaster struck because the driver got lost "all these roads look alike to me". They did to the rest of us too and it took a local resident (on the coach) with a copy of the street map of the town for us to navigate our way back onto the correct route. We then drove at speed to make up lost time as we'd spent 15mins in Milton Keynes getting lost.

[anothercynic]

@Mark 110

It's the users... not the phone.

My first iPhone was the 4. Since then, I've had the 4S (a contract upgrade), the 5S (ditto), and I'm on the 6S (a new buy direct from Apple). Never once have I broken a screen. EVER. Dinged it, sure. Scratched it, yes. But the screen? Nope. Perfect nick.

[Anonymous Coward]

Honestly don't get why people buy stuff that they don't stand a chance of even other people fixing.

I don''t think somebody slinging £700 or more on a phone cares, mate. The iPhonewraiths buy these things because they either are so rich they don't give a tinker's cuss, or they go without food and toilet roll to afford it, because they are defined by the handset they own.

Either way, the last thing on their mind is the maintainability.

[handleoclast]

Re: go without food and toilet roll

Some of us have been so poor, at one time or another, that we've had to use both sides of the toilet paper.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: go without food and toilet roll

Some of us have been so poor, at one time or another, that we've had to use both sides of the toilet paper.

Both sides o't paper! Luxury.

Lad, yer not pooor until yerv had to tear t'cardboard tube into triangular scrapers, afore yer apply the paper. Or tek yer furriest whippet in wi you.

[Anonymous Coward]

Either way, the last thing on their mind is the maintainability.

There are only 2 elements that venture outside warranty repairs, screen and battery, and both of those have been left replaceable so I can't quite see how you can claim a lack of maintainability.

Secondly, if you treat equipment well it is indeed less of a worry anyway. You have 2 years warranty, and if you treat a phone like the expensive bit of gear it is, that guarantee would be all you need - you care exactly because it's not cheap landfill padding. After warranty, the battery is the main part that may have wear as well as the home button (the one reason why I'd be interested in the X, but the facial recognition put me off and without that there's precious little return for the extra costs).

[Bill M]

My iPhone is provided by my employer. I love it and if I drop it and the screen shatters they replace it with the latest model. Have not dropped my iPhone for while [don't want it to seem too obvious], but a couple of months after a new model comes my old model becomes slippery and when it slips out of my hand tends to land screen down onto an upward facing sharpened nail.

[Voland's right hand]

You might as well drive a Peugeot or something where you have to dismantle the rear axle.

Renault, not Peugeot. From some point after Renault Clio Mk2 they went nuts. While an old Renault could be repaired by a barely literate bush mechanic armed with hammer and spanners, on anything after around 2003-4 you need specialized tools, service manual and you need to remove the front bumper to change a light bulb. PSV while also a known offender is not anywhere near as bad.

In any case, while most early phones were repairable, their repairability has dropped across the board to nearly zero over the last 2 years.

It started with the IP6X and IP5X ratings. In order to have the phone water and dustproof they started gluing and sealing them. At that point I stopped trying to fix them myself. I started buying spares and waiting until my next trip to Eastern Europe so they can be fixed somewhere where labor is cheap.

With the new curved bezel-less designs I do not see how it can be repaired at all. The thing is held by glue (if not even epoxy). Chances to changing or fixing anything are near zero.

[Mark York 3]

Boring Barry's Sunday Lunchtime Drunken Pub Story (Every Week).

Who while attending a Renault or Peugeot training course, queried the placement of a item on a car from the service point of view, the response was.

"Your the last person we think of!".

[Ogi]

"Renault, not Peugeot. From some point after Renault Clio Mk2 they went nuts. While an old Renault could be repaired by a barely literate bush mechanic armed with hammer and spanners, on anything after around 2003-4 you need specialized tools, service manual and you need to remove the front bumper to change a light bulb. PSV while also a known offender is not anywhere near as bad."

Never tried to replace the light bulbs on a 90s Peugeot 605 I take it? Remember doing it with my dad. Took over an hour, and required removal of the front bumper to do it. Nasty cars to work on, and pretty unreliable to boot, so you would spend a lot of time fixing them (or a lot of money paying someone else to do it).

We had a Peugeot 405 and 605 at the time. The 405 was really unreliable, sometimes would start, you would drive, then it would die and it wouldn't start, had a tendency to overheat, and sometimes just abandon you on the side of the road.

The 605 was nice. Had the top end V6 engine and all the trimmings. Worked ok as well, until one day the gearbox blew up while accelerating onto the motorway, leaving a lovely pile of metal and oil on the road, and a repair bill that convinced my dad to get rid of them both.

Needless to stay, he never bought a Peugeot again, and I stay away from them. Although I heard their smaller cars are pretty reliable.

[David 132]

@Voland's Right Hand From some point after Renault Clio Mk2 they went nuts.

A proud tradition. See for example the Renault 4, which had a wheelbase of different lengths on each side of the car (due to the suspension design, not the overconsumption of Gauloises and absinthe by the assembly workers).

[fwadman]

Ah .. good old Renault.

To replace the air filter you need to remove the battery.

To replace the headlights you need to either remove the bumper, remove the front suspension or employ a 6 year old child

The replace the glow plugs - 3 of them are (relatively easy), the 4th you need to get the 6 year old child again or remove the engine

The replace the fuel filter you need to remove the front tyres

The list goes on and on ...

[Anonymous Coward]

> have sent one guy's iPhone off for repair for broken screens no less than 7 times

Give him a Doro big button mobile as a 'temporary' replacement and wait a few weeks before sending the iPhone off for repair. Might teach him to stop being so clumsy.

[Anonymous Coward]

> Why you'd buy a phone that (last time I looked) cost £70 for a screen

£30 all in from my local shop.

[Anonymous Coward]

Battery and screen are relatively easy

Not for the average person, but the average person would struggle to add RAM to a generic PC. Those two are really all that matters, because they're pretty much the only things you can fix in ANY phone. So what do you think should be repairable in an iPhone that isn't, and can you point to more than a handful of Android phones where those things are repairable?

[NoneSuch]

It's not a problem.

This only affects people who buy iPhones and as such will not affect the vast majority.

[Tac Eht Xilef]

Re: If you need to replace anything other than your iPhone 8's battery or display, good luck

This is the El Reg equivalent of the /. "BSD is dying" comment, isn't it?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had iPhones for 10 years, because as a Mac consultant my client base uses them and I need to be familiar with them. I've never broken a screen. Neither have my wife or daughter, who inherits our cast-offs. They're always kept in cheap rubberised cases - the best kind, I've found. Mine lives in the patch pocket of my Craggies, and so is never subject to the bending stresses of those poking out of jeans arse pockets.

People who break smartphone screens treat their phones too casually. That's the only plausible explanation I can find.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had iPhones for 10 years, because as a Mac consultant my client base uses them and I need to be familiar with them. I've never broken a screen. Neither have my wife or teenage daughter, who inherits our cast-offs. They're always kept in cheap rubberised cases - the best kind, I've found. Mine lives in the patch pocket of my Craggies, and so is never subject to the bending stresses of those poking out of jeans arse pockets.

People who break smartphone screens treat their phones too casually. That's the only plausible explanation I can find.

[GlenP]

Having had 15-20 iPhones* in the field for the last 8 years or so we've only ever had one with a smashed screen. Better repairability would be nice but it's not a priority.

*No, I wouldn't have chosen them but what Directors want they generally get.

[Zebo-the-Fat]

I paid around £80 for a Chinese cheepo android, it makes calls, texts, does email and surfs the web. What more would I want in a phone?

If it breaks it isn't the end of the world, I just get another, what does paying 10 times the price give me??

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're a bloke......

4 more inches in your groin

If you're a girl

4 more inches on your chest.

'nuf said.

[Fruit and Nutcase]

@AC

...

If you're Apple

4 more inches in the cash pile

[Anonymous Coward]

What does it give me?

It gives you iOS, rather than Google spyware (but I agree that we do pay rather too much for that particular advantage).

[JeffyPoooh]

"...the same score as last year."

"...gives the '8' 6/10 for repairability….the same score as last year."

I didn't realize that the iPhone 8 had been given a repairability score of 6/10....last year.

[Steve Davies 3]

Re: "...the same score as last year."

I guess the only redeeming thing for Fanbois is that the Samsung S8 scores even lower on the iFixit ratings.

Coat with a new case for my secondhand iPhone in the pocket.

[James 51]

The fairphone 3 will be out late next year, probably for around £500.

[Anonymous Coward]

The fairphone 3 will be out late next year, probably for around £500.

So more than three times the price of my rather impressive, 5.5 inch screen Xiaomi, and I have to wait another year for this "fairphone"? Having bought my Xiaomi, I can lose it, buy a replacement, have that stolen, buy another, and still have have enough change for a reasonable round of drinks.

How is £500 for a so-so phone "fair"?

[James 51]

The fairphone 2 got 10/10 on iFixit tear down so you can easily replace any broken component, swap out batteries etc etc. They avoid conflict materials which drives their costs up and the volume sold means they don't get the discounts that big manufactures get. There's a number of OSs that can be installed too.

[Anonymous Coward]

The fairphone 2 got 10/10 on iFixit tear down so you can easily replace any broken component, swap out batteries etc etc.

But inevitably, they can't support their phones forever, either the software or the hardware, as per link below. I'll tip my hat to them, they tried, their intentions were good. But they can't change the economics or practicalities of manufacturing, or of software maintenance. Might be time to admit that the most important thing for sustainability is not staving off the point at which the phone gets trashed, merely making sure that it is properly recycled.

https://www.fairphone.com/en/2017/07/20/why-we-had-to-stop-supporting-the-fairphone-1/

[whoseyourdaddy]

After I clean my glasses, I wipe my 7+ off with the alcohol wipe. Looks like new, thanks to the Otterbox.

Not sure what you guys are whining about...

If these were easy for anything less than a mall kiosk to replace, what would keep an enterprising individual from pointing a gun in your face and demanding you hand over your looks-like-new fondleslab?

Answer: weird screws and weirder glue..

I mean, duh?

[The Nazz]

"After I clean my glasses, I wipe my 7+ off with the alcohol wipe"

Been watching hot steamy pron?

It don't half sting though.

[Anonymous Coward]

Misread while skimming

Inside you'll find a 1821 mAh cell lithium-ion cell, smaller than last year.

I misread that as

Inside you'll find a 1821 mAh cell lithium-ion cell, that will last a year.

And then need replacing, presumably.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Misread while skimming

"Inside you'll find a 1821 mAh cell lithium-ion cell, that will last a year"

Now, that is a good battery. Even my old Nokia 15 years ago could only manage a month between charges.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Its called an Apple Authorised Dealer

you just take it in, they fix it and you walk out... unless you are whining that you can just buy shit off ebay and do it yourself. If you want to do that buy something else. The world is full of choices.

[handleoclast]

Re: Its called an Apple Authorised Dealer

The world is full of choices.

If you happen to live near to an Apple Authorized Dealer, yes. If you're in a part of the world where the nearest one is 70 miles away, not so much.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Its called an Apple Authorised Dealer

If you happen to live near to an Apple Authorized Dealer, yes. If you're in a part of the world where the nearest one is 70 miles away, not so much.

Yes, that would not be a good enough reason for me to move either.

:)

[zbmwzm3]

Well would ya look at that..

The iphone 8 has a better repair score than the S8+, win. It also has a much faster CPU/GPU, looking at the performance reviews in some cases 2x, again win. It also has a better camera, win. Doesn't seem like such a bad deal after all now actually.

Camera: https://www.dxomark.com/apple-iphone-8-reviewed-a-solid-performance-upgrade-over-the-iphone-7/

[Charlie Clark]

Re: Well would ya look at that..

Wow, seems like you have a big need to compensate!

BPSD

[rmason]

Re: Well would ya look at that..

Compensating?

Mr BMWM3whatsit? Never.

This is a YUGE win for the iPhone, because the average user cares SO much about stuff like this.

My mrs works in mobile phone sales and you'd be amazed at how often people come in clutching iFixit reviews etc. Hordes of teenage girls comparing how repairable their phones are, and GPU specs. Fair warms the heart to hear them talking about how much they worry about screen repair costs over the life on the handset.

[UncleMark]

(Easily) Replaceable batteries FTW

I'm on my 4th battery in a Samsung Galaxy Note 4. Traveled earlier in the year, brought the older batteries with me, and swapped them in when I couldn't get to a charger. Was never off-line.

The whole idea of sealed phones (or any devices) with batteries that only last through some 500 charge cycles is just wrong. Easily replaceable batteries *can* be done without compromising water/dust-proofing.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: (Easily) Replaceable batteries FTW

Easily replaceable batteries *can* be done without compromising water/dust-proofing.

The makers know that. But with the list of "reasons to upgrade" becoming shorter and shorter as the challengers make better and better models, the last thing the leading brands want is to worsen their own commercial prospects by selling long life handsets that encourage people to defer replacement at the end of a two year contract.

[whoseyourdaddy]

Re: (Easily) Replaceable batteries FTW

Preventing overheating, shorts, and accidental puncture adds bulk, cost and weight. Or, you could invent a phone that runs on a hearing-aid battery (basically, a piece of cardboard).

Those cells are too small to do anything exciting.

Wherever you go, some idiot will jam his car keys into the same pocket as a battery and sit down, puncturing the battery or deforming the case and shorting out the protection electronics *that* *must* *be* *in* *the* *pack*.

A worldwide news event and hysteria ensues, the TSA warns you against carrying this phone model anywhere on an aircraft. Just because his pants caught on fire while he was highway driving, dooming that phone to obscurity for being "unsafe".

Removable batteries put you in the granny-panties league. Good luck on that.

[Charles 9]

Re: (Easily) Replaceable batteries FTW

As I recall, most battery controversies these days (iPhones, Galaxy Notes) have centered around SEALED batteries. As in, protection electronics seem to short out no matter where you put them. That to me is a case for keeping the battery (a confirmed fire risk) separate and removable from the unit. Bulging batteries (a warning sign you can't see if the battery is sealed) can be removed and replaced BEFORE they actually catch fire.

[jason 7]

I get a lot of support calls...

...that start with "Hello I wonder if you could fix my broken Apple..."

I stop them right there and tell them "Sorry!"

Just not worth it.

[Terry 6]

As I've whined in these pages several times recently, I've just replaced my trusty Windows 640 with a One Plus 5. because there just wasn't a WinPhone to buy. One of the things I miss ( along with being able to Bluetooth handsfree voice to text in my Honda) was the tough glass on the front and a replaceable battery.

[Anonymous Coward]

It doesn't matter...

Many people have been thoroughly educated to believe that most consumer electronics are just not worth the bother of repairing or maintaining in any way. The only two reasons I got my TV repaired when it needed it was firstly that I spent so much (too much) on it back in the day and secondly, that I am old enough to remember things being repaired and repairable. If I'd bought a £450 Samsung, I'd probably have binned it. If you're a twenty- or thirty-something now, the only thing you have that needs maintenance is your car. And because you don't own that, you'll hand that back in 3 years and get another brand new one.

I had a conversation recently with someone about their iPhone and their view was that luckily Apple was releasing a higher capacity version because their existing phone was full up. They were a bit bemused that Apple had timed their new product releases to coincide with capacity problems of the existing version. This person, in their early thirties, had pages and pages (and pages) of apps installed, thousands and thousands of photos, social media conversations and so forth, endless music, but it never occurred to them to do any basic housekeeping whatsoever. The number of pending updates in the App store had reached three figures.

They never connected their phone to iTunes (possibly not so daft come to think of it) and were unaware of whether they had any sort of backup. Their friend had 'lost everything' when their phone broke. I stopped the conversation because I didn't want to start a three hour lecture on sensible technology management. It would've bored them, and it would've bored me to be honest. And this approach is so common now, it's the norm. We are the odd ones.

So in non-environmental terms, there is zero point in Apple putting any effort to making anything but the display replaceable. Apple are far better off, and they know this, in using advanced glue techniques to shave 0.001mm off the thickness of their phones. Because that's what people want. Of course this approach isn't sustainable long term and we'll hit the wall sometime, and it won't be pretty when we do. But I reckon we've got decades yet.

[the Jim bloke]

Re: It doesn't matter...

"...and we'll hit the wall sometime, and it won't be pretty when we do..."

I think the splash and splatter spray will be SPECTACULAR !!

[handleoclast]

Re: It doesn't matter...

I'm a boring old fart, so I get to tell boring old fart stories. :)

Back when I was a kid, my father rented a TV (this was before the days of colour TV, that's how old I am). Because then, as now, a mid-range TV cost around £300. And back then, £300 was a lot of money. Especially for something full of valves, given that valves have relatively short lifetimes (the grid usually loses emissivity). It made much more sense to rent the TV from somebody who would come out and repair it whenever something went wrong.

Assuming the inflation calculator I just found is reasonably accurate, £300 in 1960 money is around £6,400 today. Not something you want to fork out every year or so. Of course, if you bought a TV you could always get somebody to fix it. Call out charges, parts, labour, etc. You could insure against that (if anybody would sell you a policy) but the easiest way of combining a monthly payment with guaranteed repairs was to rent.

TVs have stayed pretty much around £300 for my entire life (maybe somewhat lower these days). Labour costs, however, have risen along with inflaction. A TV from my youth would have a lot of standard parts, especially the valves (the ones most likely to fail. Valves were socketed for easy replacement. These days a TV has a load of custom chips which are surface mount and a bastard to replace (even if you could get them). Labour costs have risen with inflation but TV prices have not.

All of which means it no longer makes economic sense to rent TVs. Or even to have them repaired, because the parts/labour cost is likely to be more than the cost of a new one (even more if you want a call-out rather than taking it to a repair person).

Phones are heading pretty much the same way. The only two bits it may be economic (or even feasible) to replace are battery and screen.

[handleoclast]

Re: It doesn't matter...

I'm not just a boring old fart, I'm a boring old fart with the beginnings of senile dementia.

It's not the grid of a valve that loses emissivity, it's the heater.

Nurse! Nurse! I've pissed myself again.

[Graham Hawkins]

Re: It doesn't matter...

It's the cathode that loses emissivity.

In some valves, usually those aimed at battery powered equipment, the heater and cathode are an item.

Valves used in TVs usually had indirectly heated cathodes.

Obviously, if you can still piss without the aid of a bag, you're too young to remember this stuff...

[King Jack]

Re: It doesn't matter...

@Teahound Some very good points there but when the wall of thickness (the phone not the user) is reached by then phones will be able to bend. So the race to invisibility will continue. Most users have Stockholm syndrome. They will defended any anti-consumer stunt that is pulled on them. Seal in the battery = good as changing the battery prevents you from buying / renting a new one next year. Remove the headphone jack = Great idea, why else would they pay a kings ransom for rechargeable Bluetooth headphones that will need binning when the battery dies...

Millennials are idiots, I just hope that when their kids rebel the kids adopt common sense and realize that getting screwed on everything is retarded.

[Terry 6]

Re: It doesn't matter...

Millenials are not idiots. The parents are (always) to blame. It's we who brought them up to think that stuff can be treated as disposable. It's we who insisted on their having all the newest thingies. (Take a look at any kiddies' birthday party/Christmas presents etc.) It's we who developed their sense of entitlement.They didn't learn this anywhere else. All they're doing is taking our example to its conclusion.

[Terry 6]

news and consumer programmes

@teahound

Not infrequently there are little news items and consumer programmes that feature someone who lost all their family photos, "their life", etc when their phone was lost/stolen/broke. Or indeed small businesses with everything on a computer hdd. And I just can't feel my usual level of sympathy - because no kind of back up. Today there was some person on "Pointless Celebrities" ( OK I'm getting old) talking about how she wrote her books by hand, and when asked about the risk of the paper being lost/ruined she was being slightly smug because of knowing people who had lost everything when their PCs died. Well she should have been making copies and they should too ( they're called back ups). I just don't have time for people who rely on a unique version of something so precious to them when making a safe copy is so easy.

[aberglas]

French car maintenance is great

Everybody knows how horrible they are, so I can pick up a low km Citroen for about half the cost of the equivalent Toyota. When it goes bang, throw it out. (My current C4 requires major work just to change the air filter which is stuffed *behind* the engine.)

Pity this does not work for phones.

[PhilipN]

Usual whining

Today's phones are not consumer durables. They are consumer disposables.

End of story, except to respond to the whingeing here :

- Today's phones are miracles of materials and production technology. If you want to buy a phone 3 mm thick then recognise the limitations

- If you don't want a phone that can't be fixed, then (rolls eyes) don't buy it

- if you want a phone with the durability of a walkie talkie on the streets of Fallujah then don't buy Apple or Samsung

- if you want to buy a high-end phone that is out of date 48 hours later that is your privilege so what is the problem?

- if you buy a high-end phone there's a better than 50-50 chance you will replace it a year later

- if you are in the less than 50 per cent then buy a rubberised case and a screen protector and DON'T DROP IT

- Apple's business model is spot on since they make so many millions of phones the marginal cost of each one coming off the production line is effectively zero, so instead of setting up a massive and expensive service and repair system they give a replacement phone and everybody's happy

- otherwise a phone designed for ease of repair will not be so slim, or light, and whiners will still whine about cost of repair.

Sheesh!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Usual whining

Apple's business model is spot on since they make so many millions of phones the marginal cost of each one coming off the production line is effectively zero

Rubbish. In rough terms, the BoM cost of Apple phones is in the region of 35% of the list price - look it up, third party analysts publish these numbers. That bill of materials is a real cash cost, and warranty costs and logistics probably add another 5%.

So the marginal cost of each iPhone coming off the line is a significant expense for Apple.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Usual whining

But does that BoM analysis take possible deal-sweeteners and vertical integration into consideration?

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Now I will freely admit to not being terribly imaginative, but what would the average owner need to replace other than the screen and battery?

The headphone jack?

[Anonymous Coward]

The data port (Lightning in this case) can get abused quite a bit.

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

I hear that the glass rear cover is easy to break and difficult (+expensive) to repair.

So I suppose the solution is not to buy one?

[Milton]

Oh, flip

All of which causes me yet again to wonder why all this miniaturisation and smartphone tech hasn't found its way back into a flip-phone form factor. Surely there's no better way to protect the main screen *and* give yourself twice as much space for it? Use the outside for a supplementary quick glance notification screen and fast access controls and you have a potentially excellent handset with a big, protected screen.

I've never understood the lemming like adherence to the begging-to-be-busted candy bar design.

[Charles 9]

Re: Oh, flip

Simple. That went out with the virtual keyboard, which BTW means you're not restricted to dialpad texting or the alphabet set by the manufacturer. Plus, having the whole length of the phone as a screen increases readable size. Customers voted with their wallets; hardware keys are out; not even Blackberry could endure.

People who really cared about their screens (like me) bought their own protection (like a case and holster).

[unwarranted triumphalism]

Disappointing

^F iSheep

'phrase not found'

Get it together ElReg, I expect to see more hate for crApple than you've been delivering recently.