Right to repair: the EU toughens its tone regarding iPhones

Although certain aspects of the new European Union regulations may upset some, others actually benefit consumers. Among them, improving the repairability of devices.

AfterUSB-C and Sideloading, European commissioners could soon impose certain standards on repairability on manufacturers. This is to make devices and their components more durable. This is a good thing because for once, Apple could be aligned with the European Union's measures. The Apple company has in fact started optimizing the design of its devices in this direction for some time now, even if there is still progress to be made.

EU pushes businesses to encourage repairs

This new bill was passed by the European Parliament, but it must still be the subject of negotiations with the Council before its implementation. In order to have a significant impact, European commissioners wantall independent repairers are able to repair any devicewithout discrimination. This would facilitate access to rapid support for those who until now did not have an approved repairer near their home. To do this, manufacturers will need to provide easy access to all the tools and maintenance guides for their devices.

Furthermore, the law willrequire companies to provide a replacement phonewhile theirs is being repaired. They will also have tooffer an additional year of warranty on the devices.

The Lightning complicated things

Despite the reluctance regarding the arrival of USB-C on iPhone, the connection has nevertheless brought a certain benefit in terms of repairability. Until now on the iPhone 14, the SIM card reader was linked to the motherboard. It was therefore necessary to replace it in case the reader no longer worked. From now on, this is no longer the case given thatit would be connected to the USB-C socket.

The European Union also wants to impose new standards on manufacturers in terms of device manufacturing. This in particularby preventing the matching of componentsas practiced by Apple, which wishes to prevent its customers from going to third-party repairers.