iPhone 12 Found to be Only Repairable Through Apple?

With the recent release of the Apple iPhone 12, the chances are that many of you reading this either currently own one or are planning to make the transition at the arrival of your next contractual upgrade opportunity. Following a report via Ifixit, however, it has been found that Apple may have incorporated even more design aspects into the iPhone 12 that may prevent you from getting it repaired at anywhere other than one of their official stores.

Apple iPhone 12 Repairs

Following a breakdown and replacement of the camera unit on an iPhone 12, the team at iFixit found that although the swap did seem to initially work, the camera very quickly disabled itself shortly afterward. It has since been discovered that the camera contains a unique ID code that is specifically associated with that one particular iPhone 12. In other words, if the camera is broken, it can’t simply be replaced with one from another model as you would, for example, swap a tyre on a car. It has to be linked to Apple’s cloud-linked System Configuration app and have the code associated with it ‘transferred’ or migrated to the smartphone itself.

With it being discovered with the camera, however, the fear is that many other yet undiscovered components within the phone may be so intrinsically tied into the overall design that if you need any kind of repair, you might be over a barrel to have it done directly at an Apple store.

“Apple, by design or neglect or both, is making it extremely hard to repair an ‌iPhone‌ without their blessing… It doesn’t look good for independent repair. Apple is putting yet another question mark on a core component of the ‌iPhone‌. Why? Why does a camera need to have its serial number authorized remotely by Apple just to let someone take pictures with their phone?

Taken together with the System Configuration document, and all the other bugs, tricks, and intentional lock-outs that Apple has put in the way of fully functioning iPhones, we take this as a sign that things won’t get any better unless there is major change—from within, from customer demand, or from the law.”

What Do We Think?

This has already raised more than a few concerns from the community as it would appear that Apple is again attempting to distance itself as far as possible from the ‘right to repair’ laws many consumers have been crying out for for years. – With it already confirmed that replacing the camera is almost certainly not going to be possible with any third-party repair shop, if you do have an iPhone 12, you might want to take extra care of it. Because if you do break something, your only option may be the Apple Store and lord knows their work doesn’t come cheap!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!