Despite strong competition from Android phones, Apple has managed to hold its own and remain the single most popular smartphone manufacturer in the world. In spite of the fact that this is the case, many people have criticized Apple for its business practices. A common aspect that gets criticized is Apple forbidding its customers from making any repairs to their own phones.
Many have taken issue with this because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making repairs cost way more than might have been the case otherwise. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Apple has been experimenting with a self service repair program that has seen a lot of success in the US market. It turns out that they are now expanding this program into Europe, with eight countries being included in the initial program.
These 8 countries are Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Poland as well as the UK. Users in these countries will now be able to make repairs to their own iPhones starting with the iPhone 12 model. They can buy replacement parts from official stores, and Apple has assured consumers that these parts will be entirely original and will be identical to what they would have used in their own official repair service.
Additionally, the price of these spare parts would be exactly the same. That might be bad news for repair services who would no longer be able to profit from exclusivity, but the consumers will definitely be quite grateful for this change. Many customers abandon old iPhones that could’ve been repaired due to the high costs of getting them fixed. This new change will make it so that they can use their phones for longer periods of time. That will also likely reduce electronic waste which is already quite a huge problem, and it’s great to see Apple relaxing some of its strict policies to provide better experiences to the consumers that are so loyal to their products.
Read next: Developers Are Getting More Diverse Pricing Options on the Apple App Store
Many have taken issue with this because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making repairs cost way more than might have been the case otherwise. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Apple has been experimenting with a self service repair program that has seen a lot of success in the US market. It turns out that they are now expanding this program into Europe, with eight countries being included in the initial program.
These 8 countries are Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Poland as well as the UK. Users in these countries will now be able to make repairs to their own iPhones starting with the iPhone 12 model. They can buy replacement parts from official stores, and Apple has assured consumers that these parts will be entirely original and will be identical to what they would have used in their own official repair service.
Additionally, the price of these spare parts would be exactly the same. That might be bad news for repair services who would no longer be able to profit from exclusivity, but the consumers will definitely be quite grateful for this change. Many customers abandon old iPhones that could’ve been repaired due to the high costs of getting them fixed. This new change will make it so that they can use their phones for longer periods of time. That will also likely reduce electronic waste which is already quite a huge problem, and it’s great to see Apple relaxing some of its strict policies to provide better experiences to the consumers that are so loyal to their products.
Read next: Developers Are Getting More Diverse Pricing Options on the Apple App Store
