It would matter if it was highlighted. People care about repairability of expensive items. Admittedly, it is a secondary concern, but I would say it is probably the top secondary concern

A secondary concern is resale value. Repairability isn't even that. To put it one way, even if you could repair an iPhone with legos, I think it'd sway few to zero buyers from an alternative.

While I somewhat agree, the big repair that most people are going to want to do pre- or post- sale is replacing the battery. If that's something that anyone can do now, it'll improve resale value.

I used to think this, but then all the Android phone-makers that used to tout user-removable batteries started gluing them in like Apple does, which sounded like the market speaking.

Maybe it's not all that hard to replace the glued-in batteries anyway. Seems every mall has two tiny mid-hallway shops that can do it.

If I have to choose between easy-to-replace batteries and water resistance, I will go with the latter. Of course if both are possible, I would be very happy, but I just don’t see an engineering way for that in such a compact body as phones. Also, batteries are no longer 1-2 inches heigh, they are often odd-shaped to fill all the rest of the phone body.

Samsung still manages to do both removable batteries and water resistance in their Galaxy XCover line but I suppose thickness, weight, etc. are more important for the average consumer.

Samsung mocked Apple for removing the 3.5mm jack, but a few months later, did it themselves. Because the majority of consumers don’t care enough to do anything about it.

Is it? Most people that might be concerned just pay for Apple Care, and then let Apple repair it. Only the 1% of people that are techy/nerdy enough to even try this are even bothered by this.

This is about speed, not cost of repair. The selling point of Apple Care is that it takes the stress out of your phone breaking.

When my sister's iPhone's screen broke, she took it to the Apple Store at the mall to use her Apple Care benefits. When they gave her some enormous time estimate, she marched to the iFixUrPhone stand and they did it in an hour. I believe Apple knows that this is a problem and is taking some preliminary steps to fix it. That's what this play is about.

Yeah, you kind of need to make an appointment through their app. When you do that, you walk in, they find you a person, then it takes about the same hour.

I'm honestly surprised they even accepted you as a walk-in

This still follows my point that when you buy Apple Care, you are paying for your phone breaking to be a non-stressful event. Having to find a working device, make an appointment, wait for your appointment (while your anxiety about being phoneless builds up), remember the appointment, and be on time is not nearly as nice an experience as walking up to a table at the mall you've never talked to before and getting it fixed right there for cash.

Side note: I don't remember saying she was a walk-in. I don't know if she was; I'll have to ask her.

>(while your anxiety about being phoneless builds up)

This is a truly terrifying thing to me about today's younger generations that have "always had" a device and have use the social platforms just as long. I don't mean for that to sound patronizing or belittling. It is just so out of my own experience it is hard for me to empathize, but I do sympathize as I realize that some of that dependancy was/is intentionally juiced by the social platforms.

It's not just that, but also knowing that one's spouse might be trying to call and getting frustrated. Or needing the phone for 2FA.

Perhaps it's true for richer people in the developed world. 3rd party repair shop is a thing in worldwide.

Maybe not at first, but a million Apple users who break their devices having a good experience with the repair vs. a bad one is a good thing for Apple.

I don't see how. What are they going to do, be more likely to be repeat customers? They were going to be repeat customers anyway, even after breaking their phones and not being able to repair them.

The only possible benefit I see here is Apple saving money on repair technician time. But I still suspect it'll cause lost profits, because many people will be able to repair their phones instead of just buying new ones when they break.

ifixit is a repair site after all and thats their primary concern :)

Ofcourse it's not a primary concern for us... but having upgraded my Samsung Galaxy, it feels good that I can easily service the phone and replace components. It's so simple inside once you learn how to unglue the back glass.