Apple revealed this week to US Congress: in fact, despite charging between double and triple what other repair shops charge for fixing problems, Apple (2018 profit: $60bn) actually loses money on its repair business.
Asked by the House Judiciary subcommittee to “identify the total revenue that Apple derived from repair services,” the Cupertino idiot-tax operation revealed that: “For each year since 2009, the costs of providing repair services has exceeded the revenue generated by repairs.”
That’s right, it may charge you $329 for a screen replacement that costs $100 everywhere else. Or $80 for a battery than costs $30 across the street. Or even $475 to replace a single key at an Apple store. But poor old Apple is making a loss every time.
Which is, of course, nonsense, though it’s interesting to explore how Apple can make the claim with a straight face. And the answer is creative accounting.
That does seem odd, especially when it’s been caught charging $1,200 for a repair that a third-party store fixed for just $75. Replacing an iPhone X display (out of warranty) costs $279 through Apple, but $17, at a New York-based third party seller. It’s likely that the overall cost of Apple’s repair bill is also distorted because of the cut-price repairs it’s had to offer recently, and its wider recall programs.
VP for Corporate Law, Kyle Andeer, added that untrained people attempting to repair your iOS device might cause what’s termed as a “safety event.” He cites an example where a loose screw could damage the battery, which could cause overheating or a fire. And there’s some merit to this argument, given that the headlines that follow would concern the exploding iPhone, not the fact it was improperly repaired.
And Andeer pointed to both the rollout of its Best Buy repair partnership and its new system to verify independent third-parties as correctives here. These people will have access to genuine Apple parts and repair manuals, and will be able to offer the same services that authorized technicians can.
That argument has gone down badly with right to repair advocates who feel that the company isn’t being entirely fair. Nathan Proctor, Right To Repair chief at the Public Interest Research Group, told Motherboard that Apple’s argument is entirely self-justifying. And the claim that replacing an iPhone battery could be dangerous does seem to fly in the face of how easy this process could, and should be. Especially given Apple’s repeated commitment towards becoming more environmentally-friendly.
