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Update repairability score to new standards

I was wondering if the repairability score you assign after every tear down can include software locks (as in many iPhones and some samsung phones).

My idea was to get a pair of the same item and, after the teardown, replace parts of one with the other’s and see what works and what doesn’t. In this way we can get a better representation of what we can do, what we can’t, and what we can do for hardware but it does not work by software.

For example, in the iPhone 12 Pro Max teardown, you said in the pros that “Screen and battery remain prioritized and reasonably accessible for replacement“, even if they are limited by software (it shows the important battery message if you replace the battery, and you lose some screen functions if you replace it).

IMHO both hardware and software limitations to repairs must lower the repairability score of an item.

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Hi Daniele! This is something we want, too! The world of repair is constantly changing, and we’re trying hard to keep pace!

We’ve often hesitated to mark a device down for software issues that might be fixed in future releases—we saw this with Error 53 and the potential camera swap issues in the iPhone 12. But this year the iPhone 13 did indeed score lower due to software issues. Apple has been strangling repair with a sort of death-by-a-thousand-cuts approach, and sometimes it’s hard to tell where the last straw should be. Is a warning enough to prevent repair? What about the loss of non-essential features? What if the software lock is a bug and not intentional? Even as objective as we try to be it can sometimes be tough to assign values.

Ideally we can assign the most accurate score possible, but we’ll always be happy to have fixers argue our scores! We too want to push manufacturers to do better, either with praise or with complaints. Keep that spirit up and we’ll do our best to keep fighting for you!

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Well, an assesment can always be changed, if they change (both in better or worse) the repairability limitation in software. For example, last year iphone 12 should have got a lower score for the camera, battery and screen replacement issues, that would have increased when they revert the camera issues (only to be right back this year).

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Hi @cardegn,

You make a great point–thanks for bringing that up! I’ll bring this to our teardown team.

Thanks for all you do on our site!

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Daniele Carminati will be eternally grateful.