Apple, Microsoft, and Google Get Poor Grades For Repairability

(Photo: Fili Santillán/Unsplash) Right-to-repair is becoming more of a widespread priority, and for good reason. Consumers are finally fighting for their right to keep the smartphones, farming equipment, and life-sustaining medical devices they’ve purchased in working condition without shelling out money to the manufacturer or being forced to buy a whole new device. With this in mind, it isn’t a good look that Apple, Microsoft, and Google have each been graded poorly on a new repairability scale.

In typical European fashion, France has led the charge in clarifying for consumers which products are easily repaired and which ones aren’t. The country recently began requiring manufacturers to determine and publish a repairability score based on ease of disassembly, price and availability of spare parts, and access to repair information. As of January 2021 everything from washing machines and lawn mowers to smartphones and laptops have been subject to the score, with the goals of creating openness around device durability, keeping tech out of landfills, and pushing manufacturers to compete to provide longer-lasting products. 

The US Public Interest Research Fund, or US PIRG, published a report this week detailing the repairability ratings of ten major hardware companies: Apple, Google, Samsung, Motorola, Microsoft, HP, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, and Dell. Partnering with iFixit.com, US PIRG collected the repairability scores for 187 laptops and cell phones and ranked their respective manufacturers on categorized A through F scorecards titled “Failing the Fix.” US PIRG adjusted the French scores to penalize companies that lobby against right-to-repair legislation.  

Apple ranked lowest on both scorecards, earning a D (2.5/10 or lower) for its MacBooks and an F (0.5/10 or lower) for its iPhones. Apple is known for punishing iPhone users who attempt to fix their own devices, though the company has recently stepped back from this a bit. Microsoft also lost points for lobbying against right-to-repair legislation, so despite its laptops being more physically repairable than some would believe, its devices received a D as well. Google’s history of lobbying earned its Pixel smartphones a D on the cell phones scorecard, though US PIRG notes the devices technically deserve a D+ for their decent disassembly rating of 5.94. 

Dell, Asus, and Lenovo ranked highest on the laptops scorecard due to their ease of disassembly, service manual accessibility, and the pricing of parts and their availability. Motorola received the highest cell phone score thanks to its devices’ disassembly and the company’s lack of known opposition to right-to-repair. It’s worth noting that no manufacturer received an A ranking on either scorecard.

While the US might be quite a bit behind France and the EU (the latter of which is also considering making manufacturers publish a durability rating), the growing prevalence of repairability scores is encouraging. US PIRG manages a right-to-repair campaign for those interested in learning more about or joining the movement. 

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