Surprise: Apple now supports California’s right-to-repair

Thing is, they already have to support right to repair because of the EU, so there’s no point in spending time and money in court fighting it elsewhere. So best PR-wise to now “support” right-to-repair laws.

They either managed to guarantee that the law won’t pass or they found a loophole

I fully expect that we will soon hear how Apple revolutionised the industry by pioneering repairability.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

In a major reversal, Apple is now expressing support for a right-to-repair bill in California, as reported by TechCrunch and iFixit.

In a letter to California Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman, Apple says it endorses the SB 244 bill, which requires manufacturers to give customers and independent repair shops the appropriate tools, manuals, and parts to repair damaged electronics and appliances.

Apple has slowly been warming up to the idea of right to repair by establishing its own self-repair programs for various devices, including the iPhone 14 and M2-equipped MacBooks.

While this program lets users obtain the tools and parts they need, right-to-repair advocates argue that it’s still not an economical way to repair the devices.

If approved, this would add to the growing number of right-to-repair laws passed in other states, including Minnesota and Colorado.

New York passed a right-to-repair bill last year, but before it was signed into law, it was heavily amended to give OEMs some convenient exceptions and loopholes.

The original article contains 316 words, the summary contains 162 words. Saved 49%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Don’t worry, another corporation will come to save us from the dangers of repairing our products in a sustainable manner.

/s

It may not be because Apple wants to do it, but it’s good for us regardless.

A user from another community breaks it down nicely.

https://programming.dev/comment/2283862

It's basically the existing crappy "authorized" repair they are doing rn.

Must be a watered down version.

Is this like a real life correlation to the meme where southerners thought "free slaves" meant price? It's Apple, there has got to be a fundamental misunderstanding if they're suddenly in support of something they've actively worked against for years.

"I've had one of my trademark changes of heart."