Why Is It So Hard to Repair Something You Own?

Your phone still takes good pictures, and the screen is fine. It runs the apps you need, but the battery no longer lasts through the day, and carrying a charger everywhere is getting old.

You start looking into a replacement battery, which means finding someone who works on your model, checking whether they can get the part, comparing prices, and working out how long you’ll be without your phone. Somewhere in that process, you open a tab for new phones, and what started as a maintenance problem becomes a shopping decision.

The repair might still be worth doing, but buying a replacement often comes with a clear price, a product in stock, and a straightforward way to get on with your day. Making repairs that straightforward depends on choices manufacturers make years earlier, from how a device comes apart to who can get the parts and software to put it back together.

The repair starts at the drawing board

Before anyone drops a phone or wears out a battery, someone decides how the case opens, how components are attached, and which parts can be replaced separately.

Those choices determine how much work a repair will involve and how much can go wrong along the way. A component buried under several others takes longer to reach, while an assembly that has to be replaced as a unit turns one failed piece into a larger bill.

In its 2021 report Nixing the Fix, the Federal Trade Commission identified several barriers to repair, including adhesives that make components difficult to replace and limited access to parts and diagnostic software. The agency found little evidence to support manufacturers’ broad justifications for those restrictions.¹

Those barriers shape what a repair shop can offer before you even ask for a quote. You can take good care of a device and want to keep it, but if the part is hard to get or the shop can’t finish the job, buying a replacement may still be easier.

A screwdriver only gets you so far

Once you’ve opened the case and replaced the part, you may still need software to finish the repair.

Apple’s Repair Assistant, for example, installs calibration data after certain iPhone and iPad parts have been replaced. Some supported devices can reuse parts from another device of the same model, but an unfinished calibration can affect performance or leave features such as Face ID or Touch ID unavailable.²

There is real technical work here, since a successful repair includes getting the replacement component to function correctly with the rest of the device. That makes access to the necessary software part of what determines who can finish the job.

A technician who understands the hardware still needs a reliable way to get compatible parts, diagnose the fault, and complete any required software steps. If one of those is missing, the repair might take longer, cost more, or be a job the shop has to turn down.

The price arrives after you’re committed

When you buy a phone, you can compare its storage, camera, screen, and price, but finding out what it will cost to keep that phone working takes more effort.

A battery replacement price might be available, while information about a charging port, a broken button, or how long replacement parts will be sold takes more digging. Even if you do that research, the repair you eventually need may be one you never thought to look up.

This gives the seller an advantage after the original purchase, because changing brands when your preferred repair route is unavailable means buying an entire replacement device. You have much less freedom to shop around for the maintenance than you had when choosing the product.

That is the economic problem underneath the inconvenience. A manufacturer can benefit from selling replacement devices and servicing the devices already sold, while an owner benefits from keeping a useful product working at a reasonable cost. Those interests can align, but there is no reason to assume they always will.

What matters to an owner is whether they can get the part, compare quotes, choose a shop, and get back a device that works.

What a better arrangement looks like

Some of the pieces already exist, including products whose manufacturers make repairs part of their public documentation.

Framework sells laptop components separately and publishes replacement guides for parts including keyboards and mainboards, so customers can see what a repair involves before they need one.³

For covered phones and tablets placed on the EU market from June 20, 2025, the rules require access to certain spare parts for at least seven years after the model goes off sale in the EU. They also set requirements for disassembly and access to software needed for repairs.⁴

The accompanying labels rate repairability from A to E. The score considers how hard the device is to take apart, what tools it needs, and whether parts, software updates, and repair instructions are available. Shoppers can compare ratings while they’re still choosing a device.⁵

Manufacturers should publish repair instructions, sell replacement parts, say how long support will last, and give qualified repairers the tools they need. Shoppers should be able to find that information alongside the purchase price.

A device can be easy to take apart and still cost too much to fix. If shoppers could look up parts and service prices before buying, they’d have a better idea of what the device could cost them over its lifetime.

Before buying, look for replacement parts and public repair instructions for the specific model you’re considering. Check whether an independent shop can service it and how long the manufacturer says it will supply parts.

Even if you’d never attempt a repair yourself, those answers tell you whether you’ll be able to hire someone to do it.

Keeping the thing you bought

Once a device is on your desk or in your pocket, its repair arrangements become your problem, and you spend the time finding parts, calling shops, comparing quotes, and deciding when to give up.

Manufacturers can make that work easier before the sale by designing for repairs, keeping parts in stock, and putting repair prices where shoppers can easily find them.

A phone with a worn-out battery should have a clear route to a new battery and somebody able to fit it, because the rest of the phone still has work to do.

Notes

1. Federal Trade Commission, Nixing the Fix: An FTC Report to Congress on Repair Restrictions (May 2021), executive summary.

2. Apple, “Use Repair Assistant to Finish an iPhone or iPad Repair,” Apple Support, accessed November 2, 2026.

3. Framework, “Framework Support” and “Mainboard” (replacement guide), accessed November 2, 2026.

4. European Commission, “Smartphones and Tablets,” Energy Efficient Products, accessed November 2, 2026.

5. European Commission Joint Research Centre, “New EU Labels Help Consumers Choose More Repairable Electronics,” June 20, 2025.