It was an exciting day at iFixit in November 2021, when Apple announced its decision to release a consumer-repair policy, along with new parts, replacement screens, batteries, and service manuals for iPhones. The push from the previously reluctant Apple was seen as a major shift on the “right to repair” landscape.
Currently, 27 states have – or are working on – right-to-repair legislation, and President Biden signed an executive order in the summer of 2021 encouraging the Federal Trade Commission to use its authority to address “unfair anticompetitive restrictions on third-party repair or self-repair of items, such as the restrictions imposed by powerful manufacturers that prevent farmers from repairing their own equipment.”
CNBC first spoke with iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens before Apple’s new repair policy was announced, and caught up with him after the news over Zoom.
Watch CNBC’s discussion with Kyle Wiens.