New revelations have it that the new iPhone 14 series are much more repairable compared to their look-alike predecessors.
According to a blog post on Monday, the back glass is now much easier to replace according to popular device repair firm iFixit.
Glass backs have been on the iPhones since 2017 but the problem with them was the placement which often makes them extremely difficult to replace.
The worst is how much Apple charges for the replacement of the back glass of its high-end devices at its AppleCare shops.
While charging a premium fee of about US$599 for the replacement of just the back glass, AppleCare+ subscribers often pay a bit lesser than uninsured customers.
During iFixit’s assessment, they found out that Apple has made a lot of important changes in the placement of its back glass.
For example, previous generation iPhone back glass was often glued to the frames of the device which means removing it would require heating the back up first in order to weaken the glue and then carefully slicing through the glue, and in any case of an accident, there could be a crack.
However, the newer iPhone 14’s back glass is held in place using two screws which makes it very easy to remove.
While the tech giant didn’t mention the redesign of the internal components of its new device during its presentation earlier this month, there have been rumors that the company was taking the reparability of its devices seriously especially since it started selling repair kits and spare parts directly to its customers.
Given the cost of previous repairs “everyone was just living with phones with tape on the back,” iFixit Chief Executive Kyle Wiens told Reuters.
“This gives people a shot at getting them fixed. It also creates opportunities for local repair shops.”
Even though future iPhones are definitely going to be much more repairable, the high-end iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max are still glued in place using the older style.
The costlier iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max still have the older style of glued-in glass back.
Apple’s phones have long been a target of repair industry critics who argued the devices were so hard to fix that consumers were likelier to discard them and buy a new device.