The right to repair has become one of the big pillars in the fight against planned obsolescence and also against the high prices that some manufacturers put on repairs of various technological devices. Apple is one of the best examples in this sense, doing something as simple as repairing the iPhone 14 Pro Max screen it would cost us 799 euros in Spain unless we have an AppleCare+ plan.

Paying 799 euros is almost half of what the new iPhone 14 Pro Max costs with this money we could buy a brand new high-end smartphone, if we use another manufacturer. With that in mind, I think it’s pretty easy to see why the right to repair carries so much weight, and why it’s ultimately inevitable to see official repair shops as another way to make money, at least for certain manufacturers.

However, we must be clear that having the right to fix something does not mean that we will actually be able to do it, much less that it will be within anyone’s reach. In the European Union wants to extend the right to repair smartphones and tablets, and so that this right does not remain useless, it is proposed to impose on manufacturers to use designs that are more accessible to users, i.e. easier to repair.

There are already smartphones that are themselves a clear obligation of the right to repair, such as the Nokia G22, but also there are terminals that are the opposite, such as the iPhone 14 Pro Max. In the attached video, we can see the repair process of an iPhone 14 Pro Max, which suffered serious damage to the front and back glass layers. Repairing this smartphone in an official Apple service would cost the user 703 euros per change.

From the beginning it is clear that facing the repair of this Apple terminal with guarantees we need specialized machines, and that when the smartphone is folded, it is not possible to use the official module to remove the screen. To repair the back glass layer, it is necessary to completely disassemble the inside of the iPhone 14 Pro and transfer it to the new chassis, which is obviously not within everyone’s reach and is an extremely complicated repair.

As if all that wasn’t enough, once the cutting, repairing and reassembling process is complete, the iPhone 14 Pro Max it does not recognize the screen as original, which causes iOS to disable True Tone and the auto-brightness feature. In total it took the video creator four and a half hours to fix and he knew what he was doing and had the right tools at all times.

Talking about the right to repair and stuffing your mouth with it is all very well, but as long as manufacturers continue to create models with such a difficult to repair design, it will be nothing more than a mirage. At least Apple did better with the iPhone 14, as in this case the back glass can be removed and replaced individually and easily. The saving with this repair was 348 euros compared to the cost of an official Apple service.