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Quinn Nelson: Using Appleā€™s Tools to Fix My iPhone

Quinn Nelson, who used to own an iPhone repair shop, takes the US-only iPhone Self Service Repair for a spin. They ship you 40+ kg of equipment, which you rent for 7 days. The entire experience is a confounding mix of thoughtful little touches and issues being solved with a ridiculous, over-the-top sledgehammer approach, more or less because Apple can afford it.

The iPhone as a product is designed, engineered and developed with a number of constraints on materials, fit and finish. It has to be manufacturable in the first place, it has to be torsionally rigid, it has to withstand atmospheric pressure, a person's grip and perspiration. The materials have to be responsibly and sustainably sourced, free from impurities and forbidden substances. It has to fit together well and look its best.

There are thousands of check boxes to tick, all of which have guided the design and build process. For a company capable of doing all this, only laziness, apathy or spite are stopping them from making it just as well put-together, just as representative of a deliberate design ethos, but more easily repairable.

Only laziness, apathy or spite.

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