Apple Anti Repair Policy is Pro-Profits and Anti-Customers

Imagine you cracked the screen of your iPhone because you lost your mind for a split second and could not give the phone all the care and attention that is usually reserved for newborn babies. It happens! You naturally take the phone to the Apple Service Center to get it repaired but ta-da, Apple says they won’t repair it because you have a third party battery installed. What’s the connection you ask. “Read the Apple anti-repair policy,” the technician shrugs.

Last year, Apple performed poorly in the sales department, especially when it came to the iPhone. As a result, Apple CEO Tim Cook had to inform the investors in a letter that the company will most likely miss the revenue target as they failed to sell the expected number of devices. Not a celebratory news for the company, we agree.

While Mr. Cook cited many reasons for the sale shortfall, him talking about people’s choice to repair their iPhones instead of buying new ones as one of the causes has reignited the backlash about Apple’s anti repair policies.

Apple has been quite aggressive in their attempts to discourage consumers from repairing their old devices. They have very strict guidelines against products repaired (or even opened) by third party vendors. Also, with every new model release, Apple seems to be making user-end repairs less feasible.

The latest acknowledgment of Apple’s preference of ‘replacement over repair’ has left the public feeling furious, and they haven’t shied away from showing their displeasure on various social media platforms. One comment on Twitter says, “Just stop buying Apple products. Problem solved.” Another says, “Yet another reason to never buy anything Apple.”

Although there are many variables involved, and things might take a sudden turn for the better for Apple, the biggest (and quite realistic) possibility at this moment is that things don’t look good for Apple. They have already left people unimpressed with the price tags of the newly released iPhones – Xs, Xs Max, and Xr – and now this leaked letter to the investors not only serves as a reminder of Apple’s unreasonable anti-repair policy, it also shows how desperate they are to find scapegoats to blame their dismal sales performance on.