In a world where Apple wasn't trying to dynamite the repair industry, they'd have a website with all their calibration tools and low level format documentation on it. Things that actually need to be paired for security reasons (e.g. fingerprint sensors, TrueDepth cameras, the angle sensor, etc) would have a click-through notification saying "hey, if you didn't get this part fixed someone might be spying on you" and simple tests to verify that the new part works, instead of just permanently disabling the associated features (Touch ID, Face ID, the ability to put your MacBook to sleep).

The phrase "undue burden" is probably going through your head. The problem is that Apple wants you to think it's an undue burden for them to make their devices more repairable. Their process for locking out repair shops is to find a plausibly deniable reason to do so - i.e. security - and then half-ass everything associated with that. So the actual security rationale gets implemented but all the 'ecosystem stuff' Apple is normally very good at just... isn't there.

Releasing calibration tools for this sort of thing would be a rounding error in Apple's accounting. And it would improve people's perceptions of their products, too. The thing is, I already knew about this problem despite not knowing there was a calibration step involved. /r/ipad would regularly get posts once a week about people whose iPads just couldn't draw lines straight, and I just assumed I'd gotten lucky with my iPad Pro M1. Turns out, they all had gotten their screens replaced at one point or another, and there's ZERO indication that doing so will fuck up your Pencil digitizer.

People assume Apple's actions are anti-consumer because Apple - and, as you pointed out, the entire industry - has eroded their own trust by gaslighting users. No buddy, it's for your safety and security that we fuck up your pencil and break Face ID if you get a screen swap.

The users might as well gaslight Apple back.

> Don't get me started on how superior the lightning connector is for daily use - predominantly charging

USB-C as an ecosystem is hilariously poorly thought out but charging is the one thing I can reliably do with it. The only problem I've had is getting USB-C cables that will carry video or charge at high voltage. That last one miiight sound like a point in Lightning's favor except for the fact that it's only a problem at laptop charger levels. Apple switched their entire laptop range to USB-C back in 2016 and the only iPad that still charges with Lightning is the last-gen model. If Lightning was superior for charging Apple would have used that on their laptops instead.

You can get dodgy Lightning cables from the same people selling dodgy USB-C. Both will be uncertified knock-off garbage made by people who probably aren't paying royalties to anyone - neither Apple nor USB-IF.