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mannyvel

macrumors 65816
Mar 16, 2019
1,395
2,540
Hillsboro, OR
Apple will arbitrarily limit functionality though, namely true tone and auto brightness, even if the parts are genuine but not paired.

I agree, a notice about the non-genuine screen is plenty fair.
True tone and auto brightness may not work because if it's a b/c grade screen they can't guarantee (1) brightness and (2) color.
 

ProbablyDylan

macrumors regular
Mar 26, 2024
212
256
Los Angeles
True tone and auto brightness may not work because if it's a b/c grade screen they can't guarantee (1) brightness and (2) color.

This doesn't address the fact that these features don't work even if the screen is genuine.

You can buy two brand new, identical iPhones, swap the screens and only the screens between them, and lose access to those features.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
12,670
23,576
True tone and auto brightness may not work because if it's a b/c grade screen they can't guarantee (1) brightness and (2) color.

Nobody is asking Apple to guarantee the performance of third-party parts. It would be as if a car disabled the windshield wipers if the glass were replaced.

Apple disables True Tone and Auto Brightness regardless if the replacement an OEM or third-party. It's clear Apple simply wants parts pairing.
 

ipaqrat

macrumors 6502
Mar 28, 2017
300
323
iPhone is the Lexus of phones. Last thing I would do is put third-party parts in a repair of my Lexus. (don't have one BTW lol)
Lexus? Debateable. Lexii are just gussied up Toyotas, with tons of parts and documentation in the pipeline and a robust third party support infrastructure world-wide (with the possible exception of the LFA and maybe the LC500H).

I find iPhones are more akin to Porsches, vis-a-vis reputation, performance, proprietary tech and protectionist B.S. (I have both Porsches and iPhones, both old and would benefit from a part or two).
 

Wanted797

macrumors 68000
Oct 28, 2011
1,724
3,610
Australia
I have always been perfectly okay with part pairing for Touch ID and Face ID.

However pairing my battery or camera and stopping functionality with things like battery health (coconut battery works with 3rd party batteries why can’t apple?) is BS.

While having zero process to allow myself to pair the part even if I have to call Apple or use some software.

And pairing a lid angle sensor is pure greed.
 

MobiusStrip

macrumors 6502
Dec 11, 2009
438
339
Apple just doesn't know when to stop being douchebags. The DOJ case against it is pathetic and a disgrace. But... over and over, Apple is fostering scorn and ill-will with its insulting "compliance" that is in reality a mockery.

I think we shareholders should mount a revolt against Apple's antagonistic and infantile refusal to comply with rulings and laws that would damage its bottom line very little if at all, inviting regulatory crackdowns and global ill-will.

Anti-customer disgraces like the removal of the headphone jacks and the crippling of Bluetooth are bad enough. But when you're openly flouting requirements to offer things that few people will even use, let alone harm your business with... you're stupid.
 

svish

macrumors G3
Nov 25, 2017
9,797
25,709
Apple does get a lot of money from preventing use of other parts but from a security stand point the move may be good as mentioned in the article.
 
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laptech

macrumors 68040
Apr 26, 2013
3,601
4,006
Earth
To be honest I wish parts pairing was on all iphone parts due to the second hand resale market. Over the years I have bought iphones on the 2nd hand resale market for top dollar only to find out much later that numerous parts have been changed for 3rd party ones. the battery, the screen, the home button, the camera, the speaker module, non Apple parts but paid top price because look, it's an iphone and that for me is where the problem lies. There are millions upon millions of iphones that have had their battery changed, the LCD and touchscreen changed, camera's change by the original owners but they fail to tell buyers that they iphone has 3rd party parts in them because they know if they tell buyers the iphone has non genuine parts in it it will drive the price down and the seller is not about to do that. The result is buyer is given the impression that they are buying a iphone will all genuine parts inside. It's a scam on a large scale and parts pairing would put a stop to that in my opinion.

This is why with the used car market it is commonly accepted that cars with a proven service history are more desirable than one's without because buyers can see if the car has been regularly serviced and what parts have been changed showing the make and model of the part in the receipts so buyers can see if a genuine replacement part was used or a 3rd party part was used. You do not get this with used iphones, you are just told it's an iphone, not knowing it could have many 3rd party parts in there that would affect the price of the iphone.

If I want to buy a used iphone I need to be safe in the knowledge that I am buying a iphone fitted with all genuine Apple parts but I cannot do that because of how easy it is to replace genuine parts with 3rd party parts and no one is told such a thing took place.

Yes I understand parts pairing is not wanted but it is needed because humans can not be trusted to do the right thing which is tell potential buyers if the iphone contains 3rd party parts.
 

Closingracer

macrumors 601
Jul 13, 2010
4,308
1,840
I completely agree with Ternus regarding the importance of properly authenticated biometric replacement parts. But there are other components, like the battery, where a 3rd party replacement could work just fine. I don't think the government has that nuanced a view though.
Nah. If you want to use a third party option and understand the risks you should be able to do it. It's your phone you paid for. They made that issue and they have to live with it.
 

Sophisticatednut

macrumors 68020
May 2, 2021
2,433
2,271
Scandinavia
Cant wait to watch Louis Rossmann have a stroke over this on YouTube later today.
Greed or not I don’t care, I don’t want non oem parts in my stuff be it tech or otherwise. I’m tired of all these trash parts out there that are used in repairs.
Too much liability. What happens if third party parts wrecks the phone? If Apple says they won’t repair phones with third party parts, there will be law suits.
Phone is too compact and personal. I have an AMD/Nvidia workstation I built for 3rd of price of Mac Pro. I don’t want fake Face ID sensors to steal my data or cheap battery to burn down the house. My workstation I like to upgrade/tinker and don’t buy Apple/
Ha Apple OEM parts tends to be the worst quality wise as they are mass produced cheap garbage.
 

Sophisticatednut

macrumors 68020
May 2, 2021
2,433
2,271
Scandinavia
If I want to buy a used iphone I need to be safe in the knowledge that I am buying a iphone fitted with all genuine Apple parts but I cannot do that because of how easy it is to replace genuine parts with 3rd party parts and no one is told such a thing took place.

Yes I understand parts pairing is not wanted but it is needed because humans can not be trusted to do the right thing which is tell potential buyers if the iphone contains 3rd party parts.
Well this is a good solution apple should have done from day 1.

Allowing parts to be paired by the user and locked with activation lock. And using non-OEM parts and registering it as such in the settings menu.

A complete win-win-win for everyone. Instead of the insane pairing solution of requiring Apple as the middleman.
 
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okkibs

macrumors 6502a
Sep 17, 2022
919
872
Apple disables True Tone and Auto Brightness regardless if the replacement an OEM or third-party. It's clear Apple simply wants parts pairing.
This might be a coincidence benefitial to Apple, however there is now a new problem with this approach that Apple might want to resolve sometime soon and which might resolve what you mentioned:

The part itself doesn't have a way to authenticate, pairing merely marks the serial number of the new part as genuine. The way Apple ensures that only genuine parts can be paired is by closely guarding their gsx pairing software. This has already been circumvented in two ways:

At first entire chips containing the serial number were pulled off the defective part and soldered onto the replacement part which worked but obviously required more effort. And now there's a device on the market that independent repair shops can purchase to reprogram the chip and copy the serial number from the defective Apple part to the replacement part in seconds.

Apple could use the serial number itself to encode the fact that it's an Apple part thus making pairing obsolete. This would then allow Apple parts to be accepted by iPhone automatically without pairing. However, I think what Apple ultimately wants to make sure is that iPhone cannot be spoofed into thinking it has an OEM part installed when it doesn't. And the serial number encoding won't prevent the copying.

So whatever they'll change next might very well include some sort of cryptography that actually authenticates the part properly instead of this terrible pairing that as you said also prevents genuine Apple parts from being accepted. That would then allow iPhone to identify parts as genuine without circumvention possible and it would do away with the need for pairing. Customers could know with certainty whether their part is Apple original or third party and original Apple parts could finally be swapped easily.

I completely agree with you that the way Apple does it now is terrible, but Apple has only really started experimenting with this on actual iPhone releases a couple years ago and I think what we have now is more of Apple making their first baby steps with parts authentication. Of course Apple should be criticized for this as it's now, my point is just that Apple might already know internally that their pairing isn't preventing third party apps to be spoofed to look like Apple original parts and if Apple is at all concerned with protecting their iPhone brand they'll overhaul this entirely.

Apple does get a lot of money from preventing use of other parts but from a security stand point the move may be good as mentioned in the article.
It's actually terrible from a security point of view. There is no parts authenticating and repair shops can now clone serial numbers from the original but defective part onto a third party replacement part. The pairing has thus been circumvented already and especially from a security point of view Apple should replace the current pairing process with their parts properly authenticating with iPhone. This would then make iPhone recognize original parts automatically without the insecure pairing mechanism and will both improve ease of repairs as well as well as security.
 

Sophisticatednut

macrumors 68020
May 2, 2021
2,433
2,271
Scandinavia
This might be a coincidence benefitial to Apple, however there is now a new problem with this approach that Apple might want to resolve sometime soon and which might resolve what you mentioned:

The part itself doesn't have a way to authenticate, pairing merely marks the serial number of the new part as genuine. The way Apple ensures that only genuine parts can be paired is by closely guarding their gsx pairing software. This has already been circumvented in two ways:

At first entire chips containing the serial number were pulled off the defective part and soldered onto the replacement part which worked but obviously required more effort. And now there's a device on the market that independent repair shops can purchase to reprogram the chip and copy the serial number from the defective Apple part to the replacement part in seconds.

Apple could use the serial number itself to encode the fact that it's an Apple part thus making pairing obsolete. This would then allow Apple parts to be accepted by iPhone automatically without pairing. However, I think what Apple ultimately wants to make sure is that iPhone cannot be spoofed into thinking it has an OEM part installed when it doesn't. And the serial number encoding won't prevent the copying.

So whatever they'll change next might very well include some sort of cryptography that actually authenticates the part properly instead of this terrible pairing that as you said also prevents genuine Apple parts from being accepted. That would then allow iPhone to identify parts as genuine without circumvention possible and it would do away with the need for pairing. Customers could know with certainty whether their part is Apple original or third party and original Apple parts could finally be swapped easily.

I completely agree with you that the way Apple does it now is terrible, but Apple has only really started experimenting with this on actual iPhone releases a couple years ago and I think what we have now is more of Apple making their first baby steps with parts authentication. Of course Apple should be criticized for this as it's now, my point is just that Apple might already know internally that their pairing isn't preventing third party apps to be spoofed to look like Apple original parts and if Apple is at all concerned with protecting their iPhone brand they'll overhaul this entirely.


It's actually terrible from a security point of view. There is no parts authenticating and repair shops can now clone serial numbers from the original but defective part onto a third party replacement part. The pairing has thus been circumvented already and especially from a security point of view Apple should replace the current pairing process with their parts properly authenticating with iPhone. This would then make iPhone recognize original parts automatically without the insecure pairing mechanism and will both improve ease of repairs as well as well as security.
Well yes and no
IMG_4601.jpeg


But as is the Apple identity… it’s better a function doesn’t work at all instead of the calibration being off …
Ternus said Apple “totally believes that third-party parts should be usable in repair” as long as the use of those parts is disclosed to a device’s owner. But the reason those aftermarket parts in iPhones won’t work the same as original parts do, he added, is because Apple doesn’t know how to calibrate them to work as the company intended.
 
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ric22

macrumors 68020
Mar 8, 2022
2,038
1,943
Well yes and no
View attachment 2367777

But as is the Apple identity… it’s better a function doesn’t work at all instead of the calibration being off …
Ternus said Apple “totally believes that third-party parts should be usable in repair” as long as the use of those parts is disclosed to a device’s owner. But the reason those aftermarket parts in iPhones won’t work the same as original parts do, he added, is because Apple doesn’t know how to calibrate them to work as the company intended.
That seems a pretty weak argument. How much calibration is needed? How is it supposedly too hard to do? Seriously? 🙄
 

shadowboi

macrumors regular
Feb 16, 2024
180
309
Unknown
I am all for easier repair options but it does not look like iFixit is asking for something better. Back in the days people could drown their iPhones, get them “fixed” and find a fool to sell it as “almost new” (and then phone eventually broke because short-circuit is really hard to fix completely). Now Apple giving option to install parts salvaged from other phones and adding whole repair history section, I mean whats wrong with it? It is cool, isn’t it?

If only iPhones had user-replaceable batteries and I would call these phones nearly ideal. Why iFixit and such don’t advocate for that? Market is flooded with devices that have non-removable batteries. I would pay Apple directly if they sold genuine user-replaceable batteries on website.

And don’t say it will remove waterproof capabilities. GoPro can be submerged underwater for up to 10 meters and you can replace battery, lens and storage in it with no issues
 
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nt5672

macrumors 68040
Jun 30, 2007
3,383
7,221
Midwest USA
Apple, please explain parts pairing for the lid angle sensor on a MacBook.

If you don’t pair the part, MacBook doesn’t go to sleep. It actually is a security concern because the computer says on with the lid closed, keeping the mic enabled.
That may be, but it's probably required (keeping the mic enabled) by the NSA or some other government agency for some reason. If you use a genuine Apple part, then the agency in question can probably turn it on or off.

With global government's attacks on privacy, I don't see any reason at this point to trust Apple any more than anyone else.
 

oldwatery

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2003
982
654
Maui
What are some people smoking here. There is nothing wrong or evil about this. I sure dont want to have cheap imitation parts used in my devises. I’ve paid a premium for a well built product and I want it to stay that way regardless of the kind of part. I am one of the last people to ever defend Apple but in this instance I strongly support the move.
 

ender78

macrumors 6502a
Jan 9, 2005
602
353
Well, my former colleague purchased a refurbished iPhone from eBay, only to discover it contained non-original parts. Unfortunately, it malfunctioned after just a few weeks, and they ended up paying nearly full price for it.

And the people that are advocating for the free for all of open repair would just say sucks to be your friend.
 

ipaqrat

macrumors 6502
Mar 28, 2017
300
323
We also value the resale value of our phones; I feel like some aim to lower iPhone resale values down to Android levels.
I don't value resale price. I transfer old devices to my personal Museum of Prospective E-Waste, so I have something to show the neighborhood brats, always whining about how their wetware interface plugs itch. "Mister Rat, I can't mow your grass today, because your mower's cheap replacement haptics aren't paired, and that makes my implants smell like Durian fruit..." Whippersnappers!
 

Victor Mortimer

macrumors 6502a
Apr 17, 2016
823
1,435
Parts pairing is evil. No exceptions.

No, you don't get to claim the Touch ID module is somehow special. That's utterly ridiculous. All it does is read the fingerprint and send it to the secure enclave chip that's on the logic board. You didn't think it was actually on the sensor, did you? You didn't think the Face ID camera does anything but take a picture, did you?

Parts pairing is about ONE thing: Profits. The only 'security' risk is to Apple's 'repair' profit stream.

And the 'calibration' nonsense is just that, nonsense. Apple wants new trackpads on Macs to be 'calibrated'. I've done the process. Guess what? I've never seen a new trackpad work any better after it's been 'calibrated' than before.

I've got a 2018 MacBook Air that has non-functional keyboard backlighting. Why? Because the ambient light sensor isn't paired. The screen was broken, I replaced it with a REAL Apple screen from another MBA. But because I have no way to pair the ALS, Apple broke the keyboard backlight - at least once the OS is booted. It works fine at power on, it's got keyboard backlight until after I put in the FileVault password. I'm sure the ALS is fine in the screen, but that doesn't even matter to me, because I turn off automatic keyboard backlight brightness and automatic screen brightness anyway, I want that controlled manually. But even though when I replaced the screen with a used one I had access to the 'authorized repair' tools, I couldn't pair the replaced screen, because the only time Apple enables access to that particular tool is during a screen replacement when you order a new screen from Apple.

EVIL.
 
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