Apple expands self-repair program to Mac notebooks

Beginning Tuesday, Apple will start offering customers genuine parts and tools so they can make repairs to their own MacBook Air and MacBook Pro notebooks with the M1 family of chips. The parts and tools, along with repair manuals, will be available for purchase and to rent via the Apple Self Service Repair Store. 

Initially, Apple will offer about a dozen different repair types for each MacBook model, including the display, top case with battery and trackpad. The tech giant noted that its self repair offerings are designed for customers “who are experienced with the complexities of repairing electronic devices.” 

Apple added, “For the vast majority of customers who do not have experience repairing electronic devices, visiting a professional repair provider with certified technicians who use genuine Apple parts is the safest and most reliable way to get a repair.”

Rental repair kits will be available for $49 for one week of use. Meanwhile, customers can send replaced parts back to Apple for refurbishment and recycling, and in many cases receive credit of their purchase by doing so.

Apple launched the Self Service Repair Store back in April, with parts and tools for iPhones. The company plans to expand the program to additional countries and additional Mac models later this year. 

For years, Apple faced scrutiny for its resistance to the Right to Repair movement, as Adrian Kingsley-Hughes noted for ZDNet, and pressure from the Biden administration likely only intensified this. Back in July 2021, Biden signed an executive order aimed at curtailing vendor repair restrictions. The president also called on the Federal Trade Commission to issue rules against anticompetitive restrictions on using independent repair shops. 

Apple noted that in the past three years, it has nearly doubled the number of service locations with access to genuine Apple parts, tools and training.