Apple added iPhone and MacBook repair scores to its online store in France to comply with a new French law that went into effect this year. MacGeneration reports that the classification takes into account features such as the ease with which a device can be disassembled and the availability of repair manuals and spare parts. Links to the final score for each product, with details of how they were calculated, are available on this support page.
Classifications of Apple products vary between products and generations. Its iPhone 12 line has scores of six out of 10, for example, while iPhone 11 from the previous year is rated below 4.5 to 4.6. The improvement, according to the detailed score assessment, is due to the fact that newer iPhones are easier to dismantle than previous year’s models and replacement parts are cheaper compared to the cost of the phone itself. There is less difference between the company’s different MacBook models, whose scores range from 5.6 to 7.
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The reparability scores are required by a new French law that came into force on January 1 with new anti-waste legislation. A website cataloging scores from different manufacturers notes that, last year, only 40% of France’s electrical devices were repaired after they broke. The government plans to increase that figure to 60% in five years, using the scores to educate consumers and pressure manufacturers to make improvements.
It is not a perfect system. Radio France Internationale notes that manufacturers calculate their own scores (albeit based on strict guidelines) and can earn easy points with simple measures, such as providing more information about software updates.
At least one manufacturer has already made a change in response to the law. A report of the world notes that Samsung offered an online repair guide for its Galaxy S21 Plus, in an apparent attempt to increase its repair score compared to the previous year’s model. The EU has used a similar initiative in the past to encourage energy efficiency, where the labels offered simple information on the energy consumption of household products.
France’s new law is still in its early stages, and only in 2022 will companies begin to face fines for non-compliance. But there is already hope that the initiative – which currently covers smartphones, laptops, TVs, washing machines and lawn mowers – could be expanded to more product categories in the future. And with the European Parliament voting in favor of the right to fix rules last year, there are hopes that similar initiatives can be implemented across the continent.