Last year it gave the device a “recommend” repairability score of 7 out of 10, but now it is downgrading that score to a “do not recommend” 4 out of 10. The reality that has been revealed, for fixers, has prompted their action…
“Repair shops are frustrated, our community is at its wit’s end, and we’re pretty fed up, too,” says iFixit.
They are so annoyed, with how things have played out, that they’ve gone back to the drawing board for their scoring system, to better reflect new software limitations on repairs. Running the iPhone 14 through the new scorecard has resulted in the downgrading.
The new 4 / 10 score better reflects the fact that individuals and independent repair shops encounter some pernicious limitations, it claims.
“Although we enthusiastically awarded it a solid score at launch last year, thanks to its innovative repair-friendly architecture – of which we remain big fans – the reality for folks trying to fix these things has been very different,” it writes.
“Most major repairs on modern iPhones require Apple approval, via a practice called parts pairing. You have to buy parts through their system, then have the repair validated via a chat system. Otherwise, you’ll run into limited or missing functionality, with a side of annoying warnings.”
You can read the full explanation for their re-scoring here.
Apple hasn’t responded to iFixit’s feedback, it highlights.
Image: iFixit
See also: Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip gets a teardown
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