Repairability is a measure of the degree to and ease with which a product can be repaired and maintained, usually by end consumers. Repairable products are put in contrast to
obsolescence
Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service, or practice is no longer maintained or required even though it may still be in good working order. It usually happens when something that is more efficient or less risky r ...
or products designed with
planned obsolescence
In economics and industrial design, planned obsolescence (also called built-in obsolescence or premature obsolescence) is a policy of planning or designing a product with an artificially limited useful life or a purposely frail design, so that ...
.
Repairability index
Some private organizations and companies, mostly affiliated with the
right to repair movement, assign repairability scores to products as a way of communicating to consumers how easily repairable the product is.
France
Since 2021, all electronic devices sold in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
have been required to report a ''repairability index'' (french: Indice de réparabilité) which rates how repairable a product is on a scale from 0 to 10, primarily to prevent corporate
greenwashing
Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on "whitewash"), also called "green sheen", is a form of advertising or marketing spin in which green PR and green marketing are deceptively used to persuade the public that an organization's products, aims ...
and encourage environmental transparency.
Products are evaluated on 5 key areas: documentation, disassembly, spare parts availability, spare part pricing, and product specifics.
Limitations
The repairability index scoring process isn't bulletproof, though—manufacturers currently self-report their indices to regulatory bodies with little to no government oversight ensuring the index was properly calculated.
For example, smartphone and laptop manufacturers can obtain an extra point on the index just by providing consumers with information regarding security or
software updates
A patch is a set of changes to a computer program or its supporting data designed to update, fix, or improve it. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, with such patches usually being called bugfixes or bug fixes. Patche ...
.
Effects
Since France's recently enacted legislation requiring repairability indices, some positive effects have materialized. For instance,
Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
now offers consumers a free online repair manual for the for its
Galaxy S21+ in an attempt to boost its repairability index.
The enforcement of French repairability index laws pushed Samsung to release this manual, something consumers had been requesting for a long time; in contrast, there is no
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
repair manual for American consumers, as U.S. legislation doesn't incentivize Samsung to release such a manual.
This french legislation has applied pressure to tech corporations to increase the repairability of their products and transition to a far more
circular economy
A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aims ...
.
Notable Score
Apple's iPhone 12
The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Mini (stylized and marketed as iPhone 12 mini) are a range of smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the fourteenth-generation, "affordable flagship" iPhones, succeeding the iPhone 11. ...
models scored a 6.0 and its
iPhone 11
The iPhone 11 is a smartphone designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the 13th generation of iPhone, succeeding the iPhone XR, and was unveiled on September 10, 2019 alongside the iPhone 11 Pro at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple ...
models scored a 4.5 out of 10 on the repairability index scale; the 2021
MacBook Air
The MacBook Air is a line of ultrabook computers developed and manufactured by Apple Inc. It consists of a full-size keyboard, a machined aluminum case, and, in the more modern versions, a thin light structure. The Air was originally positioned ...
scored a 6.5 and the 2021
MacBook Pro scored a 5.6 on the scale.
Google's
Pixel 4a
The Pixel 4a and Pixel 4a (5G) are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as mid-range variants of the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. The Pixel 4a was ...
scored a 6.3.
So far, the average repairability score has hovered around 5.4 out of 10.
See also
*
Availability
In reliability engineering, the term availability has the following meanings:
* The degree to which a system, subsystem or equipment is in a specified operable and committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at a ...
*
Circular economy
A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aims ...
*
Design life
The design life of a component or product is the period of time during which the item is expected by its designers to work within its specified parameters; in other words, the life expectancy of the item. It is not always the actual length of tim ...
*
Durability
Durability is the ability of a physical product to remain functional, without requiring excessive maintenance or repair, when faced with the challenges of normal operation over its design lifetime. There are several measures of durability in us ...
*
Interchangeable parts
Interchangeable parts are parts ( components) that are identical for practical purposes. They are made to specifications that ensure that they are so nearly identical that they will fit into any assembly of the same type. One such part can freely r ...
*
Maintainability
In engineering, maintainability is the ease with which a product can be maintained to:
* correct defects or their cause,
* Repair or replace faulty or worn-out components without having to replace still working parts,
* prevent unexpected working ...
*
Product life
Product lifetime or product lifespan is the time interval from when a product is sold to when it is discarded.
Product lifetime is slightly different from service life because the latter consider only the effective time the product is used. It is ...
*
Repairable component
A repairable component is a component of a finished good that can be designated for repair.
Overview
Repairable components tend to be more expensive than non-repairable components (consumables). This is because for items that are inexpensive to ...
*
Service life
A product's service life is its period of use in service. Several related terms describe more precisely a product's life, from the point of manufacture, storage, and distribution, and eventual use.
Service life has been defined as "a product's ...
*
Throwaway society
The throw-away society is a generalised description of human social concept strongly influenced by consumerism, whereby the society tends to use items once only, from disposable packaging, and consumer products are not designed for reuse or life ...
References
{{Reflist
Right to Repair
Consumer electronics
Maintenance