That's just the fixture Apple uses isn't it? You're not required to use it.

They ship you the tools their stores and authorized third parties seem to use to do a proper quality repair.

Yeah it’s heavy. But you don’t buy it, it’s lent to you (via a hold on your credit card).

I know people complain about this but should they send the battery in an envelope and say “good luck”?

Even if they design the phones to be more repairable (which I know many hope for), nothing can change the design of the phone you bought 2 years ago. And what Apple is doing is miles better than what they were doing before.

Heaven forbid you want to replace a blown capacitor.

Honestly, that’s kind of cool to get the entire repair rig. I doubt it’s worth it for them to differentiate based on the of work done, so they just send the entire kit.

I don’t mind that Apple does this if anyone is allowed to make their own repair rig as well.

so what happens if the kit gets "stolen"? $1200 for all of that stuff sounds like kind of a deal, especially with 2 pelicans.

What would you do with the kit? Replace other parts in other phones and start a business? Aren't you still beholden to Apple for authenticating the part to the phone every time?

I don't get this article - he wants to replace the battery... to do that he has to replace the screen. he then complains that he has to use this big device to suck the screen off?? he wanted to do the repairs... these are the tools to do the repairs. he'd be writing the same exact article if they sent him crappy versions of the tools to do the repairs...

I'm pretty sure you don't need those exact bulky tools to do the job. The main issue is that repairers can't get original parts. What apple now does is borderline maliciously compliant, by sending you the parts but also forcing you to pay 50$ for tool rentals.

> to do that he has to replace the screen

Designed to be difficult or impossible to repair. Such strategies should be heavily punished.

That article is bunk. Louis Rossmann and others in the right to repair community have praised Apple for providing these repair kits. They let you do factory-quality repairs.

What the author of that article doesn’t realize is that all of Apple’s modern phones are waterproof. To achieve that factory seal against liquid ingress requires fancy adhesives. You can’t open these things with a jeweller’s screwdriver. It takes highly specialized equipment to open the device and then reseal it when you’re done replacing the battery.

AFAIK Louis Rossmann has criticized Apple for creating a really unpractical program, calling it "virtually worthless":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwgpTDluufY

Or is there a more recent video where he changes his mind?

He praised the ability to get real tools. He criticized the lack of parts availability.