Apple, Horizon and the Right to Repair- Don’t Believe Everything You Hear
Horizon Emerges into the Light
If you follow news in the digital repair business, you might know that Apple has announced details about its formerly secretive “Horizon” repair machine, and is now allowing its use by a limited number of third party companies.
Sounds good? Read on to find out why this isn’t as great as it first appears…
Is Apple’s Concession to “Right to Repair” a Hollow Sop?
In the US, Apple has recently come under pressure due to attempts there to enshrine the “right to repair” in law. Currently, some say you don’t really “own” the devices you’ve bought due to technical and legal restrictions on what you can do with it. The large companies fudge the concept of “ownership” to their own benefit.
If it breaks? Tough. You can’t fix it yourself, and you can’t go to an independent repairer beause the parts, tools or schematics needed aren’t available. You have to go direct to the manufacturer, who may well refuse to repair it and offer an overpriced replacement instead.
Great for them, not so good for you, and bad for waste and landfill.
One example is John Deere tractors. Once upon a time if their tractor broke down, a technically-competent farmer could fix it themselves; something that’s particularly important if it fails in the middle of a harvest, for example. Nowadays, this is hard or impossible to do due to copyright and related legal restraints on what you can do with the parts and the software contained within.
Back to Apple, who appear to be conceding ground to “right to repair” with the rollout of the Horizon machine. It looks as if they’re doing something, but upon closer inspection, that’s all they’re doing.
What’s the problem? Basically, the machine is still restricted to Apple Authorised Service Providers (AASPs)- a programme that is currently restricted almost exclusively to larger corporate partners (including “big box” stores), out of reach of independent businesses and not accepting new members.
Of course, many of those major stores only carry out basic repairs and are frequently little more than glorified middlemen for Apple, acting as dropoff centres, and getting paid for it. The true lifeblood of the repair industry are the independent stores that Apple is now trying to wipe out.
Independent Repair Centres Fix What Apple Can’t- and Won’t- Touch
Statistics show that the number of repairs to Apple devices is in the billions, with the majority carried out by independent businesses.
Apple simply couldn’t cope with this level of business- but the evidence is that they wouldn’t want to anyway. Bring your phone to Apple or an AASP, and it’s quite clear they’d rather not repair it (and use almost any pretext not to do so) and charge a high price for an out-of-warranty replacement instead. (These are often refurbished devices that may already have wear and tear and be developing other issues such as touch disease).
The Important Points
- Apple now lets other companies use their once-secret “Horizon” machine. Some think Apple are doing this in response to “right to repair” pressure.
- Unfortunately, Horizon is still only available to Apple-approved stores, which are almost exclusively large-chain corporate partners. The programme has always been out of reach of most independent stores and currently isn’t accepting any more members.
- Horizon does little that independent stores can’t do by hand. Although it lets one replace the home button, a competent repair store should be able to carry out most repairs without this being necessary.
- Apple generally refuses to fix anything more than the most straightforward damage, instead offering the far more expensive option of an out-of-warranty refurb or similar device instead.
- Recent changes to iPhone designs make repair harder while serving no obvious purpose.
- Many think the true reason for Horizon’s rollout has more to do with changes in the upcoming “iPhone 8”.
Does Horizon Even Live Up to the Hype?
From news reports, you’d be forgiven for thinking Horizon was an automated sceen changer. In fact, repairs are still carried out manually, and nothing more than independent stores do all the time. Horizon checks the digitizer- nothing that can’t be checked with your finger, and part of our regular checks!
The one thing Horizon does that nothing else can is to pair a new home button. After the infamous “Error 53” fiasco- when iPhones that had had the home button or related parts replaced failed after an iOS update, even if they’d been fine before- Apple altered things so this no longer bricks the phone.
Apple needs this because they replace the entire screen and home button assembly when any part of it fails. This allows them to employ technicians with basic skills, rather than the more advanced (and intelligent) approach we use.
Any decent independent repair store should be able to swap over parts including the existing home button, so Horizon isn’t needed. The only time it might be beneficial would be if the home button had become damaged beyond repair.
To Play Devil’s Advocate for a Minute…
It’s true that Apple might have a legitimate case to want to control who can- or can’t- repair their devices. Anyone can open a “phone repair shop” with no license or qualifications. (Speaking from highly variable experience with other businesses, we know this to be true!)
In an ideal world, Apple would provide parts, schematics and tools to allow third party repair- but again, how would Apple ensure they’re only used by people who know what they’re doing so it didn’t damage their reputation? Apple has also argued from a safety perspective, mainly associated with the high-power Li-Ion batteries inside their devices.
And by making things harder for the entry-level technician, are Apple in fact doing customers a favour by weeding out the less skilled? One might argue that point…
However, Apple has a clear and open hostility to right to repair laws as well as to third party repair services, and the evidence suggests their motives to be rather more self-interested!
From a business point of view, this shouldn’t be surprising. Having customers swap out their broken phone for another (probably someone else’s old phone refurbished at minimal cost) is likely to be highly profitable. As would their simply buying a new phone instead…
Looking Towards The Future
We note that over the years Apple has made a number of changes to the design its devices that serve no obvious purpose but make them harder to repair. In particular, the new iPhone 7’s home button no longer has glue around the associated IC, making it much more likely to come off when you bend the flex during removal. (This isn’t a problem for Apple since- as mentioned above- they replace the whole assembly).
What is the purpose of this? We know what we think, but draw your own conclusions!
On older iPhones, you could replace the home button, and all you lost was the Touch ID. Now it stops working altogether if replaced, and you have to rely on assistive touch.
Rumours surround the “iPhone 7S”, “iPhone 8”- or whatever the new model will be called- and how the home button will be used. We suspect the rollout of Horizon machines have less to do with the right to repair, and more to do with something Apple have set up for the new iPhone.
Sceptical? We probably are- but then you have to be to remain in business!
