Apple has announced that it will begin selling parts, tools and repair guides to independent shops to fix broken iPhones, a major change after years of lobbying against laws in some U.S. states that would have compelled it to do just that. The company has said that it’ll offer third-parties the same “genuine parts, tools, training, repair manuals and diagnostics” as Apple Authorized Service Providers. On paper, it means that any verified and approved store will be able to offer battery and screen repair with Apple’s blessing.
The tech giant said it trialed the initiative at 20 stores across North America, Europe, and Asia. It is today launching the program for the United States and will announce further regions in the future.
Until today, if you were a non-authorized repair shop, you couldn’t get official parts. It could result in mixed experiences with parts that don’t perform as well as official parts.
This is great news for customers as it should improve the overall quality of repairs. Apple is essentially lowering the entry barrier to qualify to official parts. The program will be free for shops to join, but they will be required to have an Apple-certified technician who has taken a free 40-hour training course and test provided by the company. It’s going to be hard to tell if third-party repair shops are using genuine parts as nobody is forcing them to switch to the new program.
Read more about this at Apple Newsroom.
