Asus gets an “A" for Repairability. Apple? "B-." A look at Big Tech's Repair Scorecard.
U.S. PIRG scored America’s largest manufacturers on the repairability of their electronics. But even with legal right to repair wins, change remains slow.
No matter who’s doing the polling, Apple gets high marks on product quality and customer loyalty. When it comes to repairability, however, the Cupertino company’s got some room for improvement.
Apple scored a “B-“ in U.S. PIRG’s newly released grades on how repairable the country’s most popular electronics are. Report findings show that phones from Apple and other are, in fact, getting easier to repair. However, the same can’t be said for laptops, where repairability has stalled.
With right-to-repair laws coming into effect, there are questions about the impact of these state laws on product design, with PIRG acknowledging that the improvements they are seeing in repairability are too slow.
Repairability not a ‘feature’
When you buy a phone, you are told about all the new features, how many megapixels the camera has, and how many hours of video you can watch on a full battery. Yet, at no point are you given an overview of how easily you can take that phone apart, how easy it would be to swap out parts like a camera, if the operating software permits swapping certain parts, and at what point the battery will degrade to the point it gets frustrating to even use.
“Consumers should be able to choose electronics knowing they are durable and fixable, but right now manufacturers and vendors aren’t making that information easy to access or understand,” wrote PIRG’s Stephanie Markowitz and Lucas Gutterman.
PIRG’s repair scores are an effort to make up for the lack of consumer information: assessing factors such as documentation, ease of device disassembly, replacement parts availability as well as the cost of replacement parts.
Bonus Points for Supporting Right to Repair Laws
PIRG also docks manufacturers points if they belong to trade associations that lobby against the Right to Repair such as TechNet or Consumer Technology Association (CTA), and grant points to OEMs who voice support for Right to Repair legislation
PIRG’s analysis found some good news—and some bad:
Phones are getting easier to repair. Apple and Google received the highest grades, moving up from their C grades from the year before. The report found that Apple increase iPhone’s repairability by 0.9 and tied “with Google for the most improvement among cellphone manufacturers.” Apple made these gains by making iPhones easier to open and disassemble.
Laptops are not seeing the same improvements. ASUS received yet another glowing review of A- with Acer close behind at a B+. On the other end of the spectrum, Lenovo received a whopping F grade due to a lack of available documentation. Apple’s laptops also received low marks for their lacking ease of disassembly and modification. The MacBook Pro 14” PIRG reviewed received just 6.5 points out of 20 for “ease of disassembly,” whereas the Asus Zenbook S14 received 19.5 points out of 20.
PIRG recognizes that improving repairability for the electronics industry isn’t just about design; it’s also about policy. By factoring in whether companies are actively working to expand consumer rights, they are acknowledging the elephant in the room: many of these companies that claim to promote repair (and sustainability more broadly) have, in fact, spent years shooting down bills across the country.
The report and scoring comes at a time where multiple states have already passed right to repair laws in 2024 and even more have active bills in the works from phones to cars in 2025. But how fast these changes will come to product designs is inconclusive. Fortunately, yet another report from PIRG found that right-to-repair laws are improving access to repairs. But these repair score highlighting the ongoing need for accountability from companies as the legal battle over right to repair continues.
Repair scores have been implemented in France, where a federal “repairability index” provides consumers with repairability scores for a range of consumer electronics, including mobile phones. Scores are based on factors similar to the PIRG scores, as well as vital information such as the price of replacement parts.
Similar measures have been proposed in both U.S. states, including Colorado, as well as Germany and Canada, where in 2019, legislation was proposed (Bill 197) that would create a similar repairability index in that country.
The European Union (EU) passed ecodesign regulations that include a repairability scoring system for consumer electronics and household appliances similar to the PIRG scoring system. It will consider factors like the availability of technical documentation, ease of disassembly, and the availability and price of spare parts as well as the tools needed to perform repairs. The EU score will be displayed on the packaging of smartphones and tablets starting in 2025. However, as Repair.eu noted, the EU-wide repair scores won’t include relevant information such as the price of spare parts, making them less useful for consumers.