In what’s probably one of its biggest shifts in years, Apple – which has less than endeared itself to many hobbyists thanks to the fact that its products are traditionally difficult to repair or find new parts for – will now sell parts and tools to enable customers to make repairs at home.
The move will mean that in future, customers will no longer necessarily need to repair their devices at an Apple store or with a third-party.
Apple is branding the program ‘Self Service Repair’, and the entire system is targeted to what the company terms as “individual technicians with the knowledge and experience to repair electronic devices”.
The move isn’t entirely a selfless one, however – the bid will mean that Apple will benefit from greater part sales in future, given that the intended repair kits are designed to work with Apple-approved hardware similarly to how an authorized third party might source parts or effect repairs.
Apple has confirmed that it plans to sell more than 200 individual parts and tools at launch along with repair manuals. The program will launch with the iPhone 12 and 13 in mind and will later expand to Macs running Apple’s own silicon.
The company has not yet provided pricing on any repair kits.
