Education
In order to comply with French law, Apple had to add iPhone and MacBook repairability ratings
To comply with a new French law that came into effect this year, Apple has added iPhone and MacBook repairability scores to its online store in France. MacGeneration reports that features such as how easily a device can be disassembled and the availability of repair manuals and spare parts are taken into consideration in the rating. On this support page, links to the final score of each item, with details of how they were calculated, are available.
Apple's product ratings vary from product to generation. For example, his iPhone 12 lineup all has scores of six out of 10, while the iPhone 11s of the previous year are rated lower at between 4.5 and 4.6.According to the detailed scoring assessment, the improvement is due to the newer iPhones being easier to dismantle than the models of the previous year, and spare parts being cheaper compared to the phone itself's cost. There is less of a spread between the various MacBook models of the company, whose scores range from 5.6 to 7.
A new French law that came into force on January 1 with new anti-waste legislation requires repairability scores. A website cataloging ratings from various manufacturers notes that only 40 percent of France's electrical devices were repaired last year after they broke down. Within five years, the government aims to increase this to 60% by using the scores to educate consumers and pressure manufacturers to make improvements.
It's not a flawless system. Radio France Internationale notes that manufacturers calculate their own scores (although based on strict guidelines) and with simple measures, such as providing more information about software updates, they can gain easy points.
In response to the law, at least one manufacturer has already made a change. A Le Monde report notes that Samsung provided its Galaxy S21 Plus with an online repair guide, in an apparent attempt to increase its repairability score compared to the previous year's model. A similar initiative has been used by the EU in the past to promote energy efficiency, with labels providing simple information on the energy consumption of household products.
The new law in France is still in its early stages, and it will not be until 2022 when companies begin to face fines for failure to comply. But there are already hopes that the initiative, which currently includes smartphones, laptops, TVs, washing machines and lawnmowers, could be expanded in the future to more categories of products. And with last year's vote by the European Parliament in favor of the right to repair the rules, there are hopes that similar initiatives could be rolled out across the continent.
