Starting this fall, and only for some iPhone models, service centers and repairers who want to repair an iPhone will be able to use not only new original parts but also used components and still working disassembled from other iPhones.
This is a choice that will in some cases allow you to reduce the cost of the repair. Apple explains that it was not easy to achieve this objective because it was necessary to review the entire procedure that associates the various parts with the iPhone’s motherboard, and although the request for pairing the various components was often criticized, it was explained several times that it is necessary to avoid compromising the security and privacy of iPhone users.
As part of the process changes, Apple Genuine Parts, even when used and disassembled from other products, will benefit from all the functionality and safety of original factory calibration, just like new Genuine Parts.
Apple explains that in the last two years it has worked hard to allow parts such as the biometric sensors of Face ID or Touch ID to be reused, until the procedure will be released to repairers in a few months the calibration of these pieces can be done directly on the device, without going through external solutions that require approval from Apple servers as today. “Future iPhone models will offer support for used biometric sensors” closes Apple.
Apple also simplifies the procedures for users who want to try the Self Service Repair Store: for repairs that do not involve replacing the logic board it will no longer be necessary to communicate the serial number.
There are two aspects that need to be clarified, however, and they concern transparency towards the user and the blocking of spare parts resulting from stolen products. Apple will extend the “Activation Lock” function to iPhone spare parts and not just to whole iPhones, this means that if an iPhone is marked as “stolen” or “lost” its pieces will also be marked as such and will be unusable. It will therefore not be possible to carry out the calibration by combining the component with the motherboard, and this should be a deterrent to theft: even the spare parts are unusable.
Furthermore, it is important for a user to know how their phone was repaired: today an iPhone can pass into the hands of 2/3 people and for this very reason there will be a history of components and repairs that can be consulted and is permanent even after reinstallation. of the system. Accessible from the Settings menu on iOS, this history transparently shows the user whether his device has been repaired and provides information on the parts used: from this autumn Apple will expand the “Parts and service history” history to also show whether the original Apple parts are new or used.
