Apple will soon make it easier to replace batteries and screens as it revealed a new focus on trying to make its iPhones and other devices live as long as possible.
The company will now offer more information on those displays and batteries when they are put into an iPhone.
It is part of a range of new updates focused on longevity. It announced that it will expand its “self-service repair diagnostics” tool that lets people analyse their own devices for issues, as well as publishing a new paper called “Longevity, by Design” that attempts to explain how it tries to extend the life of those devices.
That document says that it is “always working to create the best experience for our customers, which is why we design products that last”. It says that aim starts at the beginning of the deisgn process and integrates predictions of future usage.
Apple has occasionally faced suggestions that it builds “planned obsolescence” into its devices, so that they go out of date quickly and then users are encouraged to buy new ones. But the company said that data showed its devices are actually longer-lasting than competitors: iPhones retain 40 per cent more value than the competition, it said, and hundreds of millions of them are in use despite being more than five years old.
Some of Apple’s work to prolong the life of its devices has been on repairability, though it has occasionally said that it conflicts with building the devices to last in the first place. Now, it has announced new tools that will make those devices function better when they are repaired.
Apple uses a system called parts pairing that means that, for instance, an iPhone is linked to its screen and battery and that those cannot be swapped around. Apple says that it is for the benefit of the user since it means the display has been specifically calibrated on that device, for instance.
Now, however, it will limit some of those restrictions.
At the moment, a replacement display cannot use Apple’s True Tone feature, which adjusts to the ambient light. Batteries also miss out on software features such as analysis of their battery health.
Now, third-party replacements will receive some of those same features. True Tone will be turned on and Apple will give better battery health metrics about third-party batteries.
The feature does come with some caveats, however. Apple will warn that the True Tone will only be accurate “to the best performance that can be provided” and the battery features will warn that they cannot be verified.
Apple said that some battery replacements are sold as new but are in fact second-hand, for instance. That could mean that information on their health and how many times they have been charged up could be inaccurate.