Why We Stopped Repairing iPhones and iPads

It's a question we get asked often, especially by customers who have known us for years. The answer is complex, but it deserves an honest explanation — because the decision was not made lightly.

Apple has serialized everything

In recent years Apple has introduced and progressively extended a system of component serialization. It means that every hardware part of an iPhone or iPad — screen, battery, camera, Face ID, Touch ID sensor, speaker, and so on — is uniquely paired with the serial number of the device it was installed on in the factory.

This pairing is not just physical: it is cryptographic. The operating system reads the serial of the installed component and compares it with the one registered internally. If the two don't match, iOS detects it — and reports it. Depending on the component and the iOS version, the consequences can be a permanent warning in settings, the loss of some functionality, or complete malfunction of the replaced part.

In practice, Apple has transformed its devices into closed ecosystems in which every component "knows" which phone it belongs to.

Compatible parts: an increasingly big problem

For years the repair market responded to serialization with compatible parts from Chinese sources, increasingly sophisticated. Displays with acceptable visual quality, batteries with correct stated capacity, functioning camera modules. In many cases, apparently, the repair held up.

The problem is that these components replicate the hardware but fail to durably replicate the firmware and unique codes that Apple incorporates into every original part. Chinese manufacturers clone this data as best they can — and often succeed well enough to make the component work at the moment of installation.

But then an iOS update arrives.

Apple periodically updates the component authentication protocols. A compatible part that worked perfectly can become problematic after a simple operating system update: the screen losing touch calibration, the battery stopping communication of remaining charge correctly, Face ID no longer reactivating, the camera losing some features. The customer comes back to us — rightfully — convinced that something went wrong during the repair. And we, equally rightfully, find ourselves in a difficult position to manage.

Working with compatible parts on Apple devices had become, over time, a constant source of problems for us and our customers. It was no longer sustainable.

The alternative path: Apple certification

There is an official way to repair iPhones and iPads with guaranteed original parts: becoming an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) or joining the Independent Repair Provider program.

We evaluated it seriously. But the numbers didn't add up.

Apple original parts are supplied to authorized centers with very tight margins — Apple strictly controls prices and conditions. Added to this are strict bureaucratic procedures for managing serialized components: each piece must be tracked, each repair must be registered, replaced components must be returned to Apple. The organizational structure and operating costs necessary to meet these requirements make it practically impossible to be competitive compared to an Apple Store or a large authorized center.

For an independent lab like ours, which has always focused on service quality and direct relationships with customers, the numbers didn't work.

A difficult, but consistent choice

We stopped repairing iPhones and iPads with regret — they are very widespread devices and many of our long-time customers use them. But our lab is particularly committed to offering the highest quality of service, and continuing down this path would have meant accepting a level of risk — for the customer and for our reputation — that we were not willing to accept.

We prefer to do fewer things, but do them well. For iPhones and iPads, the advice we give is to go directly to an Apple Store or an Apple authorized center: it is the only way to be certain that the installed components are original, correctly serialized and supported by future updates.

For everything else — Android smartphones, tablets, notebooks, consoles — we're here, as always.

A courageous choice, rewarded by customer trust

Voluntarily giving up a business segment as large as iPhone and iPad repairs was truly a courageous choice. iPhones are among the most repaired devices in the world, and for many labs they represent an important slice of revenue. Saying "we don't do it anymore" is not a decision you make lightly, and it wasn't for us either.

Yet, over time, that choice has given us something more precious: trust. Customers who know us know that when we say a repair can be done, we do it well. And when we say we can't guarantee the result, we say so first — not after we've cashed in. The transparency and honesty we have always demonstrated over the years have become our distinctive feature, and customers have appreciated it.

In the meantime we have shifted toward different business models, which still allow us to satisfy many customers: the repair of Android smartphones from all major manufacturers, notebooks, consoles, tablets, electronic devices of various kinds. A broad universe, in which we can work with the same care and quality standards that we have always applied — without compromise.