Samsung is trying to stop third party repairs like Apple
iFixit co-founder and CEO Kyle Wiens is talking about how Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung purposefully make their products more difficult to repair, and prevent third party repairs.
Recently iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens exposed how manufacturers restrict the ability to repair products by not just designing the products differently but also making the parts difficult to obtain. These companies have implemented different clauses in the contracts so the parts manufacturers can’t sell them in the market.
For example, Samsung uses Varta coin cell batteries for its Galaxy earbuds, which means that any third-party repairer can easily obtain these batteries. Right? It’s just a Varta coin cell battery, after all. But No.
According to him, the contract between Samsung and Varta doesn’t allow the latter company to sell those components.
“[…] when we go to Varta and say ‘can we buy that part as a repair part?’ they’ll say ‘No, our contract with Samsung will not allow us to sell that,'” added Kyle Wiens in an interview with ZDNet.
So even if the design or engineering isn’t that complex in these types of devices, the lack of part’s availability in the market makes it harder to repair. Now the bigger problem is, according to Wiens, more and more suppliers are now signing these types of agreements that prevent them from selling replacement parts.
So in the end customers will be to get their damaged products repaired only through Samsung and Samsung certified service centres, which often is the costliest option.
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