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Apple Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus defended Apple's use of the part pairing method, while also insisting on the fact that the company continues to support the use of third-party parts in repairs.
Apple on Thursday expanded its self-repair programs to allow consumers to use parts joining, a process that could allow legitimate used components to be reused in repairs.
As part of a process that will be implemented in the fall, Apple said it will continue to block components associated with a device that has Activation Lock enabled, typically meaning stolen parts.
Part mating is an issue that third-party repair companies and right-to-repair advocates have complained about, accusing them of limiting user experience and creating e-waste.
In a post-Apple announcement interview conducted with TechCrunch, Apple Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering John Ternus defended Apple's practices.
“Mating parts” is often used abroad and has a negative connotation,” Ternus insists. “I think this led people to believe that we were somehow blocking third-party components from working, which we are not doing.”
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“How we look at This means we need to know what part of the device is in the device for several reasons. First, we need to confirm that it is a real Apple biometric device and that it hasn't been tampered with or anything like that. Calibration is another matter.”
Ternus states that connecting parts is not evil and that in fact Apple makes sure that users get the best quality from the module installed in the device by knowing which module is there. “Why is that bad?” he is asking.
As an example, Ternus explains that Touch ID and Face ID are critical elements of a smartphone's infrastructure because a person's entire digital life is accessible through the device.
“We have no way to test the effectiveness of any third-party biometrics,” admits Ternus. “This is an area where we do not allow the use of third-party modules for key security functions. But in all other aspects we allow it.”
Long road to repairability
According to Apple, The process to implement the announced maintainability changes took about two years, with Ternus reporting that his team worked on maintainability despite various incoming legislative changes.
“We want to make things more repairable, so we do the work anyway,” says the executive. However, at the same time, Ternus suggests that “maintainability itself is not always the best answer.”
Commenting on how some people focus on maintainability as an end, Ternus states: “The reality is that maintainability is a means to an end. The goal is to create products that last, and if you focus on that too, if you pay a lot of attention [to making every part repairable], you'll end up creating unintended consequences that are worse for the consumer and worse for the planet.”
Apple is also an organization that “fundamentally supports” the right of users to use third-party parts for repairs, but there must also be transparency.
Ternus calls hundreds of millions of used or second-hand iPhones a great way to use an iPhone at a lower price. However, he adds that it is important for consumers to know whether the device has been repaired and what was used in the repair.
“We are not blocking the use of third-party batteries,” he confirms, but believes it is still important to inform consumers whether the batteries used are genuine or third-party. The hardware chief hopes that “this will encourage some third parties to improve quality.”
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