If there is any mobile phone that can drive the entire industry on its own, the iPhone can definitely be ranked. From material design to manufacturing, from distribution retail to maintenance after-sales, every time Apple releases a new mobile phone, the related industry can almost "get a piece of the pie".
Apple's impact on the mobile phone industry is believed to be heard by everyone: the iPhone 7 canceled the headphone hole, and for a time the headphone port became a "meaningless" obsolete technology in the mobile phone industry. The iPhone 12 is not equipped with a charger, and many domestic mobile phone brands have devoted themselves to environmental protection in the past night. But then again, although "following Apple across the river" is the usual route of many Android mobile phone brands, in a special field, even the first iron mobile phone brands dare not rush to follow. Even Apple itself, which is accustomed to being the enemy of the world, has rarely taken the initiative to soften. That's right, this is Apple's maintenance policy.
After the release of the iPhone 12, iFixit disassembled and swapped the cameras of the two iPhone 12s. Although the mobile phone can be lit normally after being put back, it cannot be switched to the ultra-wide angle camera, and the phenomenon of "black lens" appears on the mobile phone after switching modes and lenses many times. In subsequent troubleshooting, iFixit believes that this is the iPhone 12's hardware restrictions on the replacement of "foreign lenses" at the software level. iFixit also said that "according to Apple's internal repair and training guidelines, when repairing the camera and screen, you need to run Apple's dedicated cloud software to completely repair the camera and screen."
In the subsequent iPhone 13 series models, Apple confirmed the conjecture in the iOS system: the iPhone will check the display control chip of the mobile phone screen from time to time, and compare the hardware serial number on the control chip with the hardware serial number stored in the mobile phone security chip to detect whether the user's screen has undergone unauthorized maintenance.
Such strict warranty regulations naturally also arouse everyone's disgust, especially in 2021, when users pay more and more attention to the right to "repair", although Apple has repeatedly "shown favors" to third-party and independent maintenance suppliers, such as providing more relaxed maintenance qualification certification, but in the user's view, such a way is only to include third-party maintenance providers into Apple's own maintenance system, thereby expanding the influence of official maintenance. For the average consumer, high official repair prices and strict maintenance terms and restrictions are still difficult for users to accept.
But just a while ago, Apple was "soft".
According to the news of iFixit, Apple "fixed" the problem that Face ID could not be used in the firmware of iOS 15.2, even if your iPhone had changed a third-party screen in the "professional repair" store at the entrance of the community, the Face ID function could be used normally. Thinking back to Apple began to implement a new personal maintenance strategy some time ago, the future will provide individual users with special maintenance kits, so that users can repair their mobile phones at home, Apple's changes in maintenance strategies in recent months are like "suddenly open", and the changes before and after are almost puzzling.
Then again, since Apple finally decided to open up third-party screen repairs and only keep the hints of related repairs in the system settings, why did it take a lot of effort to strictly restrict third-party repairs in the first place? In addition to the high cost of repairs, what is the point of identifying the hardware serial number for Apple?
What does changing screens and safety have to do with it?
First of all, software certification can guarantee the security of the phone. Many people may not know that iPhone fingerprint or face data is not uploaded to the cloud, and all fingerprints or face recognition are completely offline local operations. Although this can ensure the security of personal information, it brings another hidden danger: just like the operation in "Mission Impossible", if the criminals disassemble the machine and replace it with the chip containing their fingerprints, then you can brush away your mobile phone and WeChat Alipay?
In order to curb this situation of stealing the day, it is necessary to record the hardware code of the key components of the mobile phone. For example, the T2 security chip in the Mac computer records the characteristic information of each component in the computer and "identifies" all the hardware before starting, so as to eliminate the phenomenon of hardware "lock change". The same is true for iPhones, where the key hardware codes in the phone are stored in the phone to avoid stealing beams and changing columns.
On the other hand, restricting third-party repairs can also protect the interests of Apple and third-party authorized repairs to a certain extent. Because most of the so-called "original screens" used by iPhones in unauthorized maintenance are actually the back pressure screens that are dismantled or other mobile phones dismantled and repressed, they have the advantage of authorized maintenance incomparable in terms of price, and naturally consumers can be "shunted" out of the system of authorized maintenance. In order to ensure the interests of authorized repair service providers in Apple's system, Apple's restrictions on unauthorized maintenance in software seem to me to be a "natural" thing.
Apple's reason for doing this is simple, the revenue generated by product repairs and related ancillary services is too tempting. Earlier, analyst Neil Cybart had estimated Apple's service business that in 2017, AppleCare's revenue was $4 billion and a profit margin of 60%, that is, AppleCare brought Apple a profit of $24, which is about 15.4 billion yuan at the current exchange rate, which is higher than Midea's profit in the first half of 2021.
In essence, this can be considered as Apple's "trip" in the mobile phone for users and unauthorized repairs in order to protect the interests of itself and its partners; in the long run, this will bring a huge blow to the mobile phone repair industry - who can guarantee that Apple will not restrict other components? And this approach also has a certain impact on Apple itself: the maintenance cost of mobile phones is also part of the cost of using the machine, and when the mobile phone is more and more expensive, the high cost of crowding is likely to push users to other brands, thus affecting the revenue of hardware sales.
Towards the "open" Apple repair circle
Probably out of consideration for maintenance costs, in 2021, Apple officially opened the maintenance policy of the iPhone, not only lowering the entry threshold of authorized maintenance service providers, but also announcing that it would sell official maintenance kits from Apple to consumers, allowing users to repair their own mobile phones.
Although this approach seems to be Apple's soft service to consumers and respects consumers' maintenance rights, after all, consumers can repair their mobile phones at affordable prices and no longer need to go to the Apple Store to "try their luck". But if consumers earn, apple must lose money? This is clearly not the case.
First, not all consumers have the hands-on ability to repair their phones on their own. You should know that there are still many users who can't distinguish between point screwsers and electric screwdrivers, even if Apple provides complete maintenance kits and guidelines, users who are willing to do it themselves are still a minority. Second, even if consumers choose to buy the relevant repair kit from Apple, the price of the kit will not be cheap.
After all, in recent years, hardware design has shown a high degree of integration, and it is almost impossible to replace specific hardware alone. For example, even if you originally planned to change only one external screen, the highly integrated Apple hardware will most likely require you to replace the entire screen assembly along with the Face ID component. These non-essential hardware replacements will eventually be reflected in the bill.
From this point of view, whether it is the software restrictions that open up the screen change, or the sale of repair kits to consumers, the ultimate purpose is only to keep consumers in Apple's repair system. As the sole supplier of repair parts, Apple has the final pricing power in its own repair ecosystem. The real threat to Apple's maintenance ecology is not to let consumers buy their own kit maintenance, but consumers find unauthorized repair points and use parts outside the Apple system to repair.
Different from the unauthentic maintenance of each magic, whether consumers change the screen themselves or find an authorized repair shop, Apple will not miss the profits it should make as a maintenance leader. In 2021, when labor costs are increasing, allowing users to buy their own kits to repair mobile phones can obviously save apple more personnel and training costs. Opening up third-party repairs is definitely a business that can make no loss for Apple.
Behind the mobile phone repair is actually a game about cost, with the development of social economy and the improvement of people's disposable income, the official high-quality maintenance service will become more and more popular. The development of cottage machines is a typical example, and the third-party maintenance manufacturers that have been targeted by Apple many times may sink to cities that are more sensitive to maintenance prices and have more stocks of old iPhone models.