> People want full control over their devices, both software and hardware.

Do they though? While I think it's sad how much computing devices have become locked down, I'm also noticing (as the family "IT helpdesk") that non-technical people I know are getting themselves into a lot less trouble with malware and scams on locked-down, secure mobile devices than they did a decade ago on Windows PCs.

My teenage nephew is pretty interested in computers and programming, and he's running Linux on an old laptop. He has full control over that but is happy to concede some control over his smartphone because he doesn't think he'll be doing any programming or anything that requires "full control" on it anyway. On Android having complete control over the software is pretty much required to avoid the privacy-invading junk that comes with it by default; Apple seems to have done a good job of creating a satisfactory experience for technical and non-technical people alike.

> People want full control over their devices, both software and hardware.

I ain’t got Time for that shit no more. I grew up and realized there’s only so much productive time in the day and maintaining my own stuff eats into that.

I had all the time in world for customization when I was in middle school. Now I just want something that works.

Luckily, you can pay other people to do that. Apple prevents a customer from getting their own device repaired at a reputable repair shop of their choice.

Isn’t that the entire point of the article is that Apple is allowing repairs at “reputable shops”. And how do you “choose” a reputable shop without knowing where the parts come from?

The 'article', if we are to be charitable here, is simply a press release. There is no substance to it, and we'll have to wait to see what parts they actually provide.

>And how do you “choose” a reputable shop without knowing where the parts come from?

You do it either based on brand, word-of-mouth, recommendations, online reviews, or a number of other ways people have been using to find reputable service centers for decades. People who came before us fought hard and we have established a precedent for repair in many many industries so that companies like Apple are not able to rip us off by denying right to repair, and denying legitimate repair shops the ability to purchase legitimate parts.

Online reviews are never fraudulent and people actually re disassemble the phone to know whether the parts are quality.

People who came before us fought hard and we have established a precedent for repair in many many industries

It’s a phone where you might save $20. It’s not like it’s the right to vote....

so that companies like Apple are not able to rip us off by denying right to repair, and denying legitimate repair shops the ability to purchase legitimate parts.

And when Apple doesn’t approve a repair shop there will be another uproar about Apple “gatekeeping” repair shops....

>It’s a phone where you might save $20. It’s not like it’s the right to vote....

You can thank them the next time you get your car fixed without buying a new car.

>And when Apple doesn’t approve a repair shop there will be another uproar about Apple “gatekeeping” repair shops....

We don't want them to approve anything. The iPhone isn't some magical unicorn. Its a box that contains components purchased from suppliers around the world. Apple forces the suppliers to not provide parts to repair shops. They use DRM in random components that have nothing to do with security so that repair shops doing basic repair have to beg Apple to "activate" the new components.

So do you really want a random supplier installing the Secure Enclave that verifies your biometric Data and ensures a secure wipe and encrypts your user data?

Have you ever had a repaired phone with a faulty touch screen?

Err.. even on my PC with a TPM chip that has biometric data, I can replace the RAM, GPU, CPU or any other component without a problem. People need to think critically with a technical mind, instead of simply accepting Apples fairytales.

But all that aside, people are free to repurchase a new phone or get the entire motherboard replaced when a $0.50 component fails on their phone. I and many others prefer to repair it and save money. And not to mention .. reduce the e-waste burden on our planet as a bonus.

So now you want Apple to design their system on a chip where the gpu and cpu can be replaced separately?

Where can I buy an off the shelf Apple designed Ax chip?

That is ridiculous. Nobody said that. Sorry, this conversation is no longer productive for either of us. I prefer to have more rights, and not less, for the consumer. You can make up your own mind. Good bye and have a nice day.

That’s the entire point. As Apple integrates more stuff, by its nature it’s harder to replace. Ifixit was even bemoaning when it was harder to replace the screen when the pixels were fused to the glass around 2010. Soon, the cellular radio will probably be a part of the SOC along with the processor and GPU when Apple’s acquisition of Intel’s modem division starts to see results.

We are already seeing third party suppliers with shoddy screens that don’t work as well and battery replacements that lie about their lifecycle.

If you really want to use the car analogy as others have, how easy is it to get third party repairs for high end cars or Tesla’s?

>People want full control over their devices, both software and hardware.

Maybe HN readers, but not most of the population. How does allowing sideloaded apps or unlocked bootloaders help the average soccer mom? If I'm a lawyer/politician/activist, I want a locked down device so someone can't install a backdoor if I lose sight of it for a few minutes.

> How does allowing sideloaded apps or unlocked bootloaders help the average soccer mom?

Millions of people installed Fortnite mobile without an appstore, you should ask them.

This kind of industry-wide myopia indicates that there's an opportunity for disruption, and I'm glad EA recognized it.

> If I'm a lawyer/politician/activist, I want a locked down device so someone can't install a backdoor if I lose sight of it for a few minutes.

But you get a device that records your life intimately and is one subpoena to Google or Apple away from making your life very, very difficult.

>> How does allowing sideloaded apps or unlocked bootloaders help the average soccer mom?

>Millions of people installed Fortnite mobile without an appstore, you should ask them.

That's a mischaracterization of my argument. I never claimed they couldn't sideload an app or that it was difficult. After all, all they had to do was follow the on-screen instructions. Furthermore, sideloading wasn't helping them. The user went through more steps to install a game just so epic could skip the 30% play store tax. Maybe epic passed the savings on the consumer instead of lining their profits (ha!), but the only entity that sideloading clearly helped was epic.

>But you get a device that records your life intimately and is one subpoena to Google or Apple away from making your life very, very difficult.

* you can opt out of the tracking/uploading to google/apple

* even if you opted into tracking/uploading, there's things that aren't but local malware can get (eg. emails, phone recordings)

* requiring a subpoena requires judicial approval and leaves a paper trail. it's also not an option for some groups (eg. foreign governments). there's a reason why mercenary hacking firms (hacking team, NSO group, DarkMatter) are a thing.

> If I'm a lawyer/politician/activist, I want a locked down device so someone can't install a backdoor if I lose sight of it for a few minutes.

Open devices which you have full control over can be made more secure. With a locked down device, you rely on the manufacturers' implementations, which may not get audited or regularly patched.

Nobody is doing hardware and software security better than Apple right now. Certainly not the open source community.

Apple supports devices for 5+ years, you’re throwing up strawmen.

Given that argument, Microsoft, Apple and other OS makers will pretty soon ship you operating systems without admin privileges, because those sneaky hackerZ might install backdoors...

>Microsoft, Apple and other OS makers will pretty soon ship you operating systems without admin privileges

That's actually how all mobile operating systems work right now. You don't get root (admin). The only way to get it is to jailbreak/root, which essentially involves running a privilege escalation exploit or patching the operating system. In any case it's definitely not as simple as "sudo" or "run as administrator". However, even without root, most users manage just fine. They can browse the web, edit documents, play games, and install whatever apps they want. There's no reason why this model can't be extended to desktop operating systems. You can't do it on mac/windows yet because of legacy reasons (eg. needing to install legacy drivers or apps).