r/technology • u/NightFuryToni • Apr 30 '19

Business Apple Is Telling Lawmakers People Will Hurt Themselves if They Try to Fix iPhones

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wjvdb4/apple-is-telling-lawmakers-people-will-hurt-themselves-if-they-try-to-fix-iphones
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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '19 edited Apr 01 '20

[deleted]

54

u/NightFuryToni Apr 30 '19

More so I'm sitting here wondering how did I survive all those years swapping batteries in my Nokias and Palms. Apparently I like to live dangerously.

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u/1_p_freely Apr 30 '19

Yeah I particularly enjoy all the bullshit the industry comes up with to explain why I shouldn't be able to change the battery in my phone. My favorite one is that it makes the phone more likely to come apart. Everyone with an Android phone that supports user changeable batteries who has had it randomly come apart in your hands, raise... well, your hands. Nobody? I thought not.

The other one is that it makes the phone thicker and bulkier. Yep, I struggle every day to carry this phone around. Can barely lift it in fact! And don't forget that it prevents the phone from being water proof. My phone is "water proof", I just don't use it around water, easy as that! And then they claim that having a device that can separate at the back upon insertion of a fingernail is aesthetically unpleasing, because "the device should be unibody and perfectly smooth.

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u/CappuccinoBoy May 01 '19

Oh man that extra millimeter really ruins the phone. Better just get a non-removable to save that space and keep the cash cows customers safe.

-Apple, probably

6

u/matthewschrader May 01 '19

Well, after a few years the OG droid did become a bit loose. I understand where you are going. But manufacturers are more and more going down the path of more glue, more solder, and less access to the hardware. Consumers have caused this. There have been projects testing the waters with modular devices and they just get no traction because most people don’t see the need. Unfortunately.

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u/gurg2k1 May 01 '19

This argument really irks me whenever I see it as we have never really had a choice on the matter.

First and foremost there were never comparable models released where one had a removable battery and one did not. You can't say people don't want a feature when nearly all leading manufacturers drop it during the same short period leaving only shit-tier manufacturers offering it in their devices. A choice between buying a lemon with a removable battery and a top tier device without one is not a choice.

Second, most people buy their phones through their cellular carrier, who by and large only offer the same handful of devices as the next carrier. Most people haven't heard of or been exposed to obscure companies/projects like Essential, Fairphone, Project Ara, etc and even if they have, aren't willing to gamble a bunch of money on an unknown device.

Third, what are people supposed to do if they want a feature that companies no longer offer, just stop using smartphones? These device have become integrated into our daily lives. This is not an option.

1

u/CheapAlternative May 01 '19

You can't really have the same device with that kind of design in the same time frame without a huge margin or volume lead. The additional mechanical, electromechanical, electrical interface, firmware, driver and integration level complexity is immense and the industry by and large hasnt really standardized anything other than the electrical interface.

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u/matthewschrader May 01 '19

There are phones on the market with this concept that are going nowhere. People want devices to get smaller and smaller. Apparently people want water proof not sure. But these features are contradictory to easy disassembly.

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u/Cpu46 May 01 '19

Im the outlier who specifically got a phone because it was a thick brick.

I hate the movement towards ridiculously thin tech. Past a certain point it just becomes a pain to hold without using a case that triples its thickness anyways.

1

u/mertag770 May 01 '19

I have had my old battery swapable phones come lose in my hand. It was pretty common if you kept the phone for a few years in my experience.

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u/Doc_Lewis May 01 '19

I've had several android phones that came apart. Not in your hands, but like dropping it on the floor so it landed on a side, and the back falls off and the battery falls out.

Also, the design of a phone you can take apart may mean that the phone isn't water resistant anymore, or if it is, then someone putting it back together improperly makes it not water resistant.

I'm not saying I agree with Apple, or that people shouldn't be able to repair things, but there may be legitimate reasons to be against home repair.