Europeans Gain Access to Apple Parts, Manuals in Self Service Repair Program
upstart writes:
The countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK:
As of Tuesday, Apple's Self Service Repair program is now available in eight European countries. It launched in the United States in April, with promises from the company to expand to other countries by the end of the year.
[...] The program allows individual customers to purchase the same repair manuals, parts, and tools that Apple uses to perform repairs. Two hundred individual parts and tools are available through Apple's Self Service Repair Store. In addition to buying the parts, customers can rent repair kits for 54.90 euros with free shipping.
Apple claims that each part "is designed and engineered for each product and goes through extensive testing to ensure the highest quality, safety, and reliability" and that they are offered to users at the same price that Apple's authorized repair providers pay.
All that said, the parts are not available for every product. To take advantage, you must be seeking to repair a phone from the iPhone 12 or 13 lineups or a MacBook with an M1- or M2-based chip. iPhone 14 models and Intel Macs are not yet supported.
[...] The Self Service Repair program puts repairs in the hands of savvy customers, but it also maintains Apple's cut. Some commentators see that as a win-win; to others, it's still not enough.
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