Apple’s “Longevity, by Design” argues its huge scale affects its repair polices

Enlarge / Apple has a lot to say about the third-party battery market in "Longevity, by Design," specifically about how many batteries fail to meet testing standards. (credit: Apple)

Earlier this week, Apple published a whitepaper titled "Longevity by Design." The purpose, Apple says, is to explain "the company's principles for designing for longevity-a careful balance between product durability and repairability." It also contains some notable changes to Apple's parts pairing and repair technology.

Here is a summary of the action items in the document's 24 pages:

• The self-service diagnostics tool that arrived in the US last year is now available in 32 European countries.
• True Tone, the color-balancing screen feature, can soon be activated on third-party screens, "to the best performance that can be provided."
• Battery statistics, like maximum capacity and cycle count, will be available "later in 2024" for third-party batteries, with a notice that "Apple cannot verify the information presented."
• Used Apple parts, transferred from one to another, will be "as easy to use as new Apple parts" in select products "later this year."
• Parts for "most repairs" from Apple's Self Service Repair program will no longer require a device serial number to order.

Changes timed to "later this year" may well indicate their arrival with iOS 18 or a subsequent update.

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