A new American repairability index is wearing out smartphones and PCs from Apple, Google and Microsoft

For a little over a year now, France has imposed a repairability index for certain categories of high-tech products, smartphones, laptops, televisions, or less tech, electric mowers, in particular. The index is not perfect, and is considered too favorable by some players in the sector, such as the HOP association.

Until then, across the Atlantic, despite the creation of bills for a right to repair, no equivalent element existed. This was without counting on the US PIRG Education Fund, an independent group of associations that work to protect consumers and the public interest.

A knockout for Big Tech

The PIRG has just published its indices for the first time, attributed to PC and smartphone manufacturers. The least we can say is that Apple, Google and Microsoft are badly singled out, and systematically rank among the last of the designers of electronic devices. It is also Apple that systematically monopolizes the worst place, whether for telephones or laptops.
Thus, for PCs, it gets a D-, for a repairability index of 3.16/10, the worst, far behind Microsoft and its 4.6.

In this category, big names like Dell, Asus, Lenovo, Acer or even HP are doing much better, with grades ranging between B+ and C+. They respectively get a 7.81 for Dell, a 7.61, a 6.99, a 6.87, and finally a 6.39 for HP.

You might think we’re hitting rock bottom… That would be a mistake: the ratings drop even lower when it comes to smartphones.

Here again, Apple retains the worst position with an F, and an index of 2.75. Google, which precedes it, gets a D+ and an index of 4.64, while Samsung gets a C and a 5.69. Motorola, which remains a power brand in the United States, gets a commendable B+, and an index of 7.77/10.

Nathan Proctor, in charge of the report for the US PIRG, wrote on Twitter:

“As you can see, Dell leads in laptops, Motorola in mobile phones… and Apple last in both. Honestly, I was surprised by that. Considering how heavily the repair ecosystem relies on Apple product repairs, I thought this would be less bad. Pull yourself together, Apple! »

One could add that given the green ambitions of Apple, which aims to be carbon neutral for all its activity by 2030, and the Self Service Repair program, announced at the end of last year, one could indeed expect better.

A hint of French inspiration

The principle of product repairability is becoming increasingly important in the United States, where electronic scrap is the fastest growing part of domestic waste. According to the US PIRG, American households spend almost $1,500 a year on new electronics, and could save an estimated $40 billion if some devices could be easily repaired and their lifespan extended by 50%. .

To help choose the most relevant economically and ecologically, the US PIRG has decided to take inspiration from the French repairability score, which, according to the interest group, offers a good basis for identifying future challenges in this area.

Also, the US PIRG has retrieved the French scores of 187 products sold by ten major manufacturers. He then partnered with the famous repair service iFixit. Then, the two partners studied the details of the French ratings, and introduced new criteria or different weightings.

Thus, access to spare parts is taken into account as in France, but the ease of disassembly has more weight, to compensate for the fact that access to parts can fluctuate from one country to another. Finally, the American index attaches great importance to attempts to lobby against the right to compensation; it is moreover specific to the American rating.

This addition seems to have a very heavy impact on the final grade and its index. Thus, the average French rating for Apple laptops is 6.08, with an average teardown rating of 3.25. However, since Apple has lobbied against the right to repair, it is deducted 1.5 points. Which, coupled with the other scores, gives it the final grade of D-, with an index of only 3.16/10, as we have seen.

The weight of the United States, added to that of France and Europe

The US PIRG report concludes that “some devices are not easy to repair, and it can be difficult to know which ones are difficult to repair. Consumers need to be better informed at the point of sale. »

Only then can a consumer make an informed choice since the long-term value of a product lies in “its ability to continue to function over time”.

The establishment of an “independent” repairability index in a market as important as the United States could encourage manufacturers of electronic products to pay more attention to certain essential points. France has set up its own upstream of a European directive, which will facilitate this kind of effort.

If it is essential to be able to find spare parts to repair a device, sooner or later the design and internal design of devices will have to take into account easy dismantling. Manufacturers will therefore have to improve in this area.

The tech giants will also have to lengthen the software monitoring of their devices, and offer updates over a longer time frame. Manufacturers need to get past the all-too-common four-year milestone in the small world of smartphones – with the notable exception of Apple, whose task is made easier by tight integration in hardware and software.

But it is also up to consumers to make things happen, to play the game of devices that are not always the thinnest, for example. They can also seek to be informed, or demand to be informed, and vote with their wallet, as the expression goes, for the most sustainable products.

Source: USPIRG