Apple Self Service Repair probably won’t extend iPhone life

Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) has released analysis of the results from its research on Apple for the four quarters ending September 2021. After Apple announced its new Self Service Repair program, CIRP analyzed the condition of old iPhones among new iPhone buyers.

The research group finds almost all phones have a useable display (Chart 1) and most phones have a useable battery (Chart 2).

“Based on what consumers say about the condition of the old iPhones they are retiring, it seems that relatively few owners would use the Self Service Repair program to postpone their next iPhone purchase,” said Josh Lowitz, CIRP partner and co-founder. “Yesterday Apple announced it will now sell repair kits, including parts and tools, to replace iPhone batteries and displays. We looked at the data on condition of the old iPhone of new iPhone buyers in the last 12 months. Clearly, Apple’s ongoing efforts to improve display durability and battery quality have paid off, even though consumers continue to complain, especially about battery life. Based on what consumers say about the condition of their old iPhones, most new iPhone buyers have more than adequately useable phones.”

Mike Levin, CIRP partner and co-founder, adds: “It seems battery life affects consumers more than screen condition. Fourteen percent of iPhone buyers reported needing to charge a battery in their old iPhone every few hours. Only 6% of iPhone buyers said they had a cracked screen that made the old phone unusable, while another 12% had a cracked screen that was still useable. Of course, buyers have many reasons for upgrading from an old iPhone, including processor performance or storage capacity. So, at best a small fraction of buyers are likely to postpone a new iPhone purchase by repairing an old phone through the Self Service Repair program.”

CIRP bases its findings on its survey of 2,000 US Apple customers that purchased an iPhone, iPad, Mac computer, or Apple Watch in the October 2020-September 2021 period.