Jamie Balfour

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Apple and the environment

Apple makes many bold claims, not least about it's attitude to the environment. But it also forgets to mention how detrimental Apple is towards the environment when it comes to their laptops. As an owner of several Apple products from a Mac Mini to several MacBook Pros, iPhones, Apple Watches, iPads, Apple TVs and so on, you quickly realise the lack of repairability each of these has. They all have that one thing in common - lack of repairability.

This is, of course, good for Apple, whose core goal is to make as much profit as possible (even though they don't need half of what they have made). Apple will make a nice bit of extra cash when they have to repair devices for users because there is no easy method to do this. 

But it's the planet that suffers. MacBooks cannot even have their batteries replaced by the consumer anymore - meaning that people like me who are experienced and able to do things like replacing drives etc, cannot do this anymore. Most people, including myself, chuck away the old device and get a completely new one because replacing the battery is around about £200 or something crazy.

All of this, is totally against the Right To Repair movement. Proposals for the Right To Repair have emerged in the European Union, which could force companies like Apple to start making their devices more repairable. As an iPhone 14 user who was actually trying to desperately hold on to his iPhone 12 until the iPhone 15 was released (mainly for the USB-C port that will be required by law), I find that Apple's defiance to law is disgraceful. 

I personally will not be buying another MacBook Pro after this one, which is a real shame as I love the device so much, but the fact it lacks repairability (as well as ports) to try and make it as slim as possible is very anti-consumer. As a long time Mac user, I have finally had enough. I will miss macOS but I cannot justify the lack of repairability in Apple's products.

Posted in Apple Corporation
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