Apple marks products in France with the repair index
No time right now?
A legal regulation forces Apple in France to provide additional information in its stores. Using a point value, customers can see how repairable a product is before they buy.
In November 2020 the EU Parliament called on the Commission by a large majority to guarantee European consumers a “right to repair”. This should extend the product life and thus lead to a more sustainable use of electrical devices.
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France prescribes point values for important equipment categories
France is already a step further in this regard and has enacted a law at the turn of the year that prescribes, among other things, a reparability index for various devices, including computers and smartphones. Manufacturers must use a score between 0 and 10 to indicate how easily a product can be repaired.
The 10 indicates maximum reparability. A decimal point is allowed. This allows the index to be defined quite finely. The display is reminiscent of the “Repairability Score” that the iFixit experts have been determining for years for the products they have dismantled.
A large number of criteria must be taken into account to determine the index. Of course, there is also the question of whether a component can be replaced at all, or whether gluing or difficult accessibility make replacement impossible. However, it also plays a role how quickly and how long spare parts are available and whether the change can only be carried out by trained specialists.
The quality of the customer service offered is included in the index. This includes the offer of technical documentation for carrying out the repairs. The answer to the question of how long the manufacturer provides the product with software updates and patches is also important.
So it is with Apple’s index values
Apple iPhone 12 Pro in France. (Screenshot: t3n)
Apple has now introduced the index in the French online shop and has shown how much room there is still upwards. The “best” product has a repairability index of 6.7 out of 10 points – it is the iPhone 7. Between the iPhone 11 with 4.6 and the iPhone 12 with 6 points, there is at least one development in the right direction.
The repairability of the larger devices is no better. The new Macbook Pro with the M1 chip scores a mediocre 5.6, the older Macbook Pro with a 16-inch display at least 6.3 points. To what extent the new score will influence consumer behavior remains to be seen. Outside of France, Apple does not show the information, which is not particularly promising.
