With iPhones getting harder and more expensive to repair, French prosecutors have launched an investigation into the scourge of planned obsolescence.
new iPhone comes out, a team of technicians in the French city of Toulouse start to pull it apart. In the three years they’ve been doing this, they’ve found a device that’s gradually transforming into a fortress. Today’s iPhones are packed with parts that cannot be repaired or replaced by anyone other than an expensive Apple-accredited repair shop. And France doesn’t like that one bit., the renowned research and training group that runs the Toulouse workshop.
By forcing people to pay an accredited technician more than the value of a second-hand iPhone for a simple repair job, Apple is incentivizing people to throw their devices away rather than fix them, says Isaac. The Repair Academy estimates an Apple-accredited technician charges customers twice as much as an independent repair shop.
It’s a problem Isaac has been following for years. And now a Paris prosecutor has decided to take action. On May 15, the prosecutor announced that there will be an official investigation into allegations that Apple is pursuing a business model of—a term that refers to designing a product in a way that intentionally limits its lifespan.
The prosecutor, which has delegated the investigation to France’s Department of Competition, Consumer Affairs, and Fraud Prevention , will have powers to fine the company and also prove whether Apple’s iPhone repair restrictions break French law, as campaigners claim. For years, France has been at the forefront of the right to repair movement, introducing Europe’s first. But this case cements the country’s willingness to take on Apple and the way it builds its products.
“France is pushing for the right to repair in ways that nobody else has yet,” says Elizabeth Chamberlain, sustainability director at iFixit, a US group that campaigns for the right to repair. “This is the first time we’ve seen any movement against planned obsolescence via parts-pairing at a national level.” Apple did not reply to WIRED’s request for comment.
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