Apple Responds to Criticism Over iPhone's 'Parts Pairing' Process

[Jhonjhon236]

In other words, the person doing the repair either did not know what they were doing or did not care.

You CANNOT calibrate the lid angle sensor without either buying one from Apple or desoldering the chip from the original one and putting it on the replacement. You could be the best technician in the world but if the original one is broke/lost/whatever then you can’t calibrate it. Can you explain that? Does that mean that the tech is clueless? Does that make them careless? Due to artificial restrictions you cannot repair it.

 

[mendimr]

I recently bought some used iPhone and i got to say that it is kinda nice to know what parts were changed on that phone. Not that I care for test phones but if I'm buying a phone for personal use I'd like to have the list of changed parts, even if they are genuine. As for Touch ID and Face ID, I'd only allow genuine parts for that, I wouldn't want any knock off part to protect my data.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

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.

Apple sells refurbs themselves. Exposing yourself to risk is entirely optional, that will not change.

 

[H2SO4]

You have no real understanding of how manufacturing works, which is why you're questioning this.

First of all, parts, even if manufactured on the same line, have varying quality. Manufacturers specify various longevity and performance characteristics of a part. The parts generally go through testing to determine if they match those characteristics.

Parts that match those specs are considered A parts. As a synthetic example, Apple screens need to keep their colors true for, say, 2 years. A part may do that for, say, 6 months. It's not up to spec, but it still works mostly. And how long does someone actually look at the screen?

They'll sell that as a B part. Some screens come out with a color cast - it may be a bit blue, or a bit yellow after a month. That'll probably be a B part. Some have bad colors right off the bat. That might be a D part.

In Asia, you can choose the part/cost tradeoff. Most shops that I've been to will ask you how good you want your parts to be, and charge accordingly.

In the US, you get whatever parts your shop sells you. Most consumers are completely clueless and expect repairs to be used with "real" parts. Maybe they'll go back if the screen goes bad and get it replaced; maybe they don't.

The problem is when you pay "A" prices but get a "B/C" part.

And plenty of people will break their screen, then get a cheap replacement and trade it in/sell it.

I mean, don't you wonder why there are different prices for the same thing? It's not all marketing.

Except you don't know that.
I know for a fact that this isn't always the case as I've seen the specs for quite a few items made by the component suppliers.
Sometimes they make pretty much he same component for a number of companies and only one can really be the best overall. Some might excel in one particular area but invariably that is marginal. I had a contract in one such factory.

 

[cocky jeremy]

The number of people crying over Apple giving you more visibility to see if your repaired device is using genuine parts or not.. lol. So backwards.

 

[Naraxus]

Ha Apple OEM parts tends to be the worst quality wise as they are mass produced cheap garbage.

I wouldn't trust that charlatan as far as I could throw him across the street. Rossmann full on advocates for illegal activities and then he expects me to trust his repairs and expertise using genuine parts? Yeah right. I'll go to someone who is just a little more trustworthy.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

That seems a pretty weak argument. How much calibration is needed? How is it supposedly too hard to do? Seriously? 🙄

I completely agree. It’s just throwing stuff to the wall and see what sticks.

 

[mannyvel]

Except you don't know that.
I know for a fact that this isn't always the case as I've seen the specs for quite a few items made by the component suppliers.
Sometimes they make pretty much he same component for a number of companies and only one can really be the best overall. Some might excel in one particular area but invariably that is marginal. I had a contract in one such factory.

I do know that on every line there will be parts that aren't to spec. That's why you do statistical quality control/binning/etc. Even Intel, a company that spends billions on process control, can't guarantee or predict what comes out of the oven. Heck, watch the Krispy Kreme donut machine. Is every donut the same? No. Do they vary in ways that matter? Occasionally.

What suppliers do with those non-spec depends on how greedy the supplier is. What the consumer gets depends on how ethical the repair shop is.

The thing is, if they said up front what the part quality is then it wouldn't be a problem. But they don't.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

I wouldn't trust that charlatan as far as I could throw him across the street. Rossmann full on advocates for illegal activities and then he expects me to trust his repairs and expertise using genuine parts? Yeah right. I'll go to someone who is just a little more trustworthy.

Illegal activity such as? Accusing him for being a charlatan is a very serious accusation without evidence to back it up.

This is shared by almost everyone in the same business. Apple has a long and proud history of terrible engineering practices for the sake of being thin, slicing costs, and consumer harm when they actually need repairs done by anyone after the warranty period ends.

The worst recent example is the fact you can fry the SSD in most MacBooks with the M1 and earlier. As in the chip exploding

 

[Sophisticatednut]

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

They are…. Have you been sleeping under a rock?

Unbelievable: guy that repairs phones with 3rd party parts says 3rd party parts are better

Unbelievabl Apple who sells OEM parts who earn money by saying it’s only their parts that are good and everything else is bad.

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

Oh what happens if the genuine iPhone was dropped in the toilet, cleaned and the water indicators was exchanged. And then it breaks after a few weeks?

The issue is made up and not going away irrespective if it’s genuine parts or not.

 

[Naraxus]

Illegal activity such as? Accusing him for being a charlatan is a very serious accusation without evidence to back it up.

Louis very kindly (brazenly) provides all the evidence one could need on his own.

Aside from the entire video making excuses for ip theft (piracy), fast forward to 13:40. Rossmann gleefully boasts how for 20 years he's purchased something online - in this case an Alice In Chains cd. Then, simply for no reason other than laziness & impatience, he feels entitled to go and steal a copy from some torrent/flac site, because he doesn't want to wait for the cd he purchased to arrive at his house.

He laughably tries to justify his theft by saying "Well I already purchased a copy of the album, therefore everyone is compensated and therefore my subsequent theft is justified."

Wrong Louis. When you purchased a copy of that AIC album, AIC got compensated for that copy only. AIC did not get compensated for the copy of the album that you stole.

 

[ender78]

You CANNOT calibrate the lid angle sensor without either buying one from Apple or desoldering the chip from the original one and putting it on the replacement. You could be the best technician in the world but if the original one is broke/lost/whatever then you can’t calibrate it. Can you explain that? Does that mean that the tech is clueless? Does that make them careless? Due to artificial restrictions you cannot repair it.

They are not artificial restrictions if they are necessary measures. Apple and or the component manufacturer may know that this part requires special equipment to calibrate. What is wrong with that?

 

[ender78]

This is shared by almost everyone in the same business. Apple has a long and proud history of terrible engineering practices for the sake of being thin, slicing costs, and consumer harm when they actually need repairs done by anyone after the warranty period ends.

IF they are so badly engineered, don't buy their products ! I like a super slim and light laptop with great battery life and so do many/most of Apple's customers. I don't want this to change.

Would I love to see upgradeable storage, absolutely. Is soldered ram and storage a reality for many laptops outside of the Apple ecosystem, absolutely. As consumers we have choice. Don't like the MacBook go and buy a Framework Laptop. Apple can't both make the machine super light and slim and repairable. I voted with my pocketbook, vote with yours.

 

[deevey]

No True Tone or Auto Brightness unless you use a third-party programmer and transfer the IC.

Neither of those things work properly on replacement screens anyhow if the screen is not calibrated to spec in the first place.

Think about it, to what degree should the screen dim if there's no calibrated reference point to start with? e.g. lets say the replacement screen is bottom of the barrel with peak brightness of only 250 nits.

How could True Tone work if the screen temperature is completely different to an original one?

Sure you might get some degree of color shift and screen darkening - but not True Tone, and not the correct auto-brightness levels.

 

[ender78]

Louis very kindly (brazenly) provides all the evidence one could need on his own.

Aside from the entire video making excuses for ip theft (piracy), fast forward to 13:40. Rossmann gleefully boasts how for 20 years he's purchased something online - in this case an Alice In Chains cd. Then, simply for no reason other than laziness & impatience, he feels entitled to go and steal a copy from some torrent/flac site, because he doesn't want to wait for the cd he purchased to arrive at his house.

He laughably tries to justify his theft by saying "Well I already purchased a copy of the album, therefore everyone is compensated and therefore my subsequent theft is justified."

Wrong Louis. When you purchased a copy of that AIC album, AIC got compensated for that copy only. AIC did not get compensated for the copy of the album that you stole.

And when Louis goes to sell that CD, he will claim it's brand new and never opened. What if that CD case is empty because he purchased a counterfeit CD? In that case he has not compensated the artist ? His argument would not likely stand up in court. Specifically since at the time of the download, he did not have possession of the media.

 

[inwerp]

Yeah. Except.
Go.to apple store, buy 2 14" macs.
1. you take two 14 inch Macs and swap screens
>>You get no truetone and annoying artifacts on right corner of the screen which is solved by movind edid i2c flash.(take screens apart, solder chip from one to another, 3 hours and ur done).
2. You might try to ask apple self repair program to fix this by running "calibration tool"
>> they tell you they won't help you because parts are not consideres original. (Yes I have screenshots).

Applause.

 

[JPack]

Neither of those things work properly on replacement screens anyhow if the screen is not calibrated to spec in the first place.

Think about it, to what degree should the screen dim if there's no calibrated reference point to start with? e.g. lets say the replacement screen is bottom of the barrel with peak brightness of only 250 nits.

How could True Tone work if the screen temperature is completely different to an original one?

Sure you might get some degree of color shift and screen darkening - but not True Tone, and not the correct auto-brightness levels.

Nobody is expecting those features to work at Apple specs. The brightness, contract, and heck, the resolution may be different because you can replace OLED with an LCD.

If you want to go down that rabbit hole, why even let the display shown an image in the first place?

We already know it's a third party non-OEM display. It's has a warning under Service History in Settings.

 

[ric22]

IF they are so badly engineered, don't buy their products ! I like a super slim and light laptop with great battery life and so do many/most of Apple's customers. I don't want this to change.

Would I love to see upgradeable storage, absolutely. Is soldered ram and storage a reality for many laptops outside of the Apple ecosystem, absolutely. As consumers we have choice. Don't like the MacBook go and buy a Framework Laptop. Apple can't both make the machine super light and slim and repairable. I voted with my pocketbook, vote with yours.

Uh, you do realise it would be a piece of cake to make a MacBook Pro with a replaceable SSD, right, without making it think and heavy? They choose not to, and you know why. It reduces the manufacturing cost by about $1, and it makes it damn near impossible to swap the SSD for a bigger one, forcing users to pay simply perverse and incomprehensible sums to upgrade with them, or a buy a computer they'll want to replace sooner. Lay off the Apple cool-aid, my friend.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

Louis very kindly (brazenly) provides all the evidence one could need on his own.

Aside from the entire video making excuses for ip theft (piracy), fast forward to 13:40. Rossmann gleefully boasts how for 20 years he's purchased something online - in this case an Alice In Chains cd. Then, simply for no reason other than laziness & impatience, he feels entitled to go and steal a copy from some torrent/flac site, because he doesn't want to wait for the cd he purchased to arrive at his house.

So as I described below, he purchased a limited license to use a copy of the music. It being delivered on a CD or through his Ethernet cable is indistinguishable. And as he said he didn’t download it for impatience but to have a lossless copy of the music that isn’t accessible for purchase as he allegedly claims.

He laughably tries to justify his theft by saying "Well I already purchased a copy of the album, therefore everyone is compensated and therefore my subsequent theft is justified."

Wrong Louis. When you purchased a copy of that AIC album, AIC got compensated for that copy only. AIC did not get compensated for the copy of the album that you stole.

This isn’t a thing. If you purchase a CD and make a million copies of that song or purchasing a CD and downloading a copy of the exact same thing 1 million times is indistinguishable.

And as it’s famously done in the USA. You didn’t purchase the copy, you purchased the licensing rights to access and use 1 singular copy, and that’s exactly what he did.

Or rather he rents the content and didn’t purchase anything and still hold to the agreement as he uses a single instance at all times. And if he ever sells the Cd he is legally obligated to destroy his copies.

Or to play with the idea.
He purchased the CD in iTunes/ or random legitimate website. He then decides to download a torrent version of the exact same file. What’s the difference here?

And when Louis goes to sell that CD, he will claim it's brand new and never opened. What if that CD case is empty because he purchased a counterfeit CD? In that case he has not compensated the artist ? His argument would not likely stand up in court. Specifically since at the time of the download, he did not have possession of the media.

The legal case would very likely just be thrown out of court as baseless and zero losses.

He compensated the copyrighted owner and use a downloaded copy= nothing is stolen.

And considering he allegedly openly admitted to committing a crime, I will wait for you to report him to the cops and a court ruling that he actually committed a crime, advocated for criminal behavior.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

IF they are so badly engineered, don't buy their products ! I like a super slim and light laptop with great battery life and so do many/most of Apple's customers. I don't want this to change.

I don’t buy their computers anymore. Last time was 2012 with the retina MacBook Pro that had the GPU fail 3 times for repair. Then I sold it in 2020~

Would I love to see upgradeable storage, absolutely. Is soldered ram and storage a reality for many laptops outside of the Apple ecosystem, absolutely. As consumers we have choice. Don't like the MacBook go and buy a Framework Laptop. Apple can't both make the machine super light and slim and repairable. I voted with my pocketbook, vote with yours.

Oh I’m not talking about replacing the SSD, I literally mean that if the drive gets shorted to ground it will literally explode…. It’s not a figure of speech as it’s getting I believe 20v instead of 3.5~v as they are next to each other. On the motherboard…. The last computer sold with this issue is M1 MacBook pros

Or the repair ability of the computer such as the flexgate issue have existed continuously for a long time

They are not artificial restrictions if they are necessary measures. Apple and or the component manufacturer may know that this part requires special equipment to calibrate. What is wrong with that?

They are. There’s nothing special about them and completely unnecessary. You are aware every single claim Apple makes are verifiable things that are testable by everyone. And it’s completely unfounded.

And not a single shred of evidence exist that Apple have provided support their claims outside of it being sales talk.

 

[Naraxus]

So as I described below, he purchased a limited license to use a copy of the music. It being delivered on a CD or through his Ethernet cable is indistinguishable. And as he said he didn’t download it for impatience but to have a lossless copy of the music that isn’t accessible for purchase as he allegedly claims.

Did you even watch the video? He specifically states that he didn't want to to wait for it to get to him.

This isn’t a thing. If you purchase a CD and make a million copies of that song or purchasing a CD and downloading a copy of the exact same thing 1 million times is indistinguishable.

Except it isn't. You're only compensating the rights holder once for a product you purchased and nothing for the product you stole.

And as it’s famously done in the USA. You didn’t purchase the copy, you purchased the licensing rights to access and use 1 singular copy, and that’s exactly what he did.

Right, and then what he did was go out and steal another copy of the album.

Or rather he rents the content and didn’t purchase anything and still hold to the agreement as he uses a single instance at all times. And if he ever sells the Cd he is legally obligated to destroy his copies.

Or to play with the idea.
He purchased the CD in iTunes/ or random legitimate website. He then decides to download a torrent version of the exact same file. What’s the difference here?

You really asked that? The difference is that he bought one copy legally for which the rights holder gets compensated and then decided to go out and steal another copy for which the rights holder does not get compensated for.

The legal case would very likely just be thrown out of court as baseless and zero losses.

He compensated the copyrighted owner and use a downloaded copy= nothing is stolen.

He compensated the rights holder for that one copy he purchased. The torrent file he stole does not compensate the rights holder.

And considering he allegedly openly admitted to committing a crime, I will wait for you to report him to the cops and a court ruling that he actually committed a crime, advocated for criminal behavior.

Nice red herring. Whether or not I report him to the police and he goes to court is immaterial. The fact is that piracy is a crime and me reporting or not reporting it doesn't mitigate that.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

Did you even watch the video? He specifically states that he didn't want to to wait for it to get to him.

I did, listen for a few extra seconds as he explicitly say:

14:15

I simultaneously also wanted to have a lossless copy

Except it isn't. You're only compensating the rights holder once for a product you purchased and nothing for the product you stole.

Right, and then what he did was go out and steal another copy of the album.

The issue is nothing is stolen.
You can purchase the song from iTunes, never download it but get it from Pirate Bay.

You really asked that? The difference is that he bought one copy legally for which the rights holder gets compensated and then decided to go out and steal another copy for which the rights holder does not get compensated for.

The rights holder is compensated. Or would you argue that every copy of the album must be a separate purchase? Purchase the CD to use in CD players.
Want to have it on a computer? Purchase a new copy. Want to have it on your MP3 player? Purchase another copy. Gets an iPod to replace the old MP3 player? Purchase a new copy. Need a backup? Purchase a new copy

He compensated the rights holder for that one copy he purchased. The torrent file he stole does not compensate the rights holder.

The torrent isn’t relevant, he owns a license that grants him the right to access a copy. And that’s what he does.

Nice red herring. Whether or not I report him to the police and he goes to court is immaterial. The fact is that piracy is a crime and me reporting or not reporting it doesn't mitigate that.

Piracy is a crime yes, but nothing shows he actually committed the illegal acts. And I’m not explicitly saying you should report him, but no lawsuit against him have succeeded for this matter as he have been openly honest about it for many years.

Aka you think he broke the law, and apparently nobody who he stole from agrees with you

 

[dumastudetto]

Apple will never sacrifice our privacy and security to appease some out of touch politicians.

 

[amartinez1660]

You might not like the act, but the explanation does make a ton of sense, actually. I’d rather know a device has certain parts that are not genuine, than to have no idea at all. Often it’s the innocent less-tech-savvy people who suffer these things, not knowing what they’ve purchased is authentic or otherwise, not us on these tech forums or on YouTube.

I’m finding the downvotes a bit dishonest, they don’t want the info being displayed to the user of which parts are not first party in a device.
Yet at the same time don’t like Apple not being upfront with their business intentions…
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander people, can’t propose both ways at once.

 

[Naraxus]

I did, listen for a few extra seconds as he explicitly say:

14:15

I simultaneously also wanted to have a lossless copy

Irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

The issue is nothing is stolen.
You can purchase the song from iTunes, never download it but get it from Pirate Bay.

It what world is illegally obtaining a copy of something from Pirate Bay not stealing?

The rights holder is compensated. Or would you argue that every copy of the album must be a separate purchase? Purchase the CD to use in CD players.
Want to have it on a computer? Purchase a new copy. Want to have it on your MP3 player? Purchase another copy. Gets an iPod to replace the old MP3 player? Purchase a new copy. Need a backup? Purchase a new copy

The rights holder is not compensated. Every time you want a copy of the album, sans a personal use copy, it needs to be purchased/obtained LEGALLY. Going to torrent sites & Pirate Bay is decidecly not legal.

The torrent isn’t relevant, he owns a license that grants him the right to access a copy. And that’s what he does.

A copy yes, an illegal download no.

Piracy is a crime yes, but nothing shows he actually committed the illegal acts.

His own words & actions make it loud and clear he comitted an illegal act.

And I’m not explicitly saying you should report him, but no lawsuit against him have succeeded for this matter as he have been openly honest about it for many years.

Aka you think he broke the law, and apparently nobody who he stole from agrees with you

The odds of him being procecuted are extremely low. Unless someone's downloading a few thousand copies then I highly doubt the RIAA/Record Lable/Infringed Artist is going to waste its time/money on hauling someone into court.

As an aside @Sophisticatednut despite what it may read like I've honestly enjoyed the back & forth we've had over this. I guess the bottom line is that imo, it is illegal, and others it's not.