Apple Tells Congress It Hasn't Been Profiting From Repairs in Response to Antitrust Probe

As part of an antitrust probe, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Apple in September with questions about its policies for the App Store, product repairs, and more. Apple has since responded, and while many of the responses are predictable, the letter reveals a few noteworthy details.

repair mac
For example, when asked to identify the total revenue that it has derived from repair services since 2009, Apple said "the costs of providing repair services has exceeded the revenue generated by repairs" in each year over that period.

Apple also said it has invested "billions of dollars" in Apple Maps since the app was released in 2012. Apple is currently in the process of revamping its Maps app with much more detailed mapping data, with the improvements now available in 27 states fully and another six states partially.

Apple defends many of its policies throughout the letter. For example, Apple says third-party web browsers on iOS devices must use its WebKit framework due to user privacy and security considerations. Apple gives a similar explanation for why third-party apps cannot be set as default on iOS devices.

The full letter can be read here.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
mac pro creativity

Apple Launched the Controversial 'Trashcan' Mac Pro 11 Years Ago Today

Thursday December 19, 2024 7:00 pm PST by
Apple launched the controversial "trashcan" Mac Pro eleven years ago today, introducing one of its most criticized designs that persisted through a period of widespread discontentment with the Mac lineup. The redesign took the Mac Pro in an entirely new direction, spearheaded by a polished aluminum cylindrical design that became unofficially dubbed the "trashcan" in the Mac community. All of ...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

calzon65 Avatar
66 months ago
Like I'm going to believe Apple is going to do something at a loss :rolleyes:
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
redheeler Avatar
66 months ago
Maybe if you include in-warranty repairs, like all the Butterfly keyboard top case replacements that have happened since 2016. The problem is that the cost of some of the out-of-warranty repairs is absurd.

$169 for a new screen on an iPhone 6s Plus, the entire device is worth barely $200 on the used market. Some people will choose to buy a new iPhone at that point, and this is a way Apple indirectly profits from high repair costs that can't be easily measured.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Brian Y Avatar
66 months ago
As someone who has worked as a Genius - I call BS.

Sorry, but charging more than the cost price of an iPhone to repair a minor fault, which they then repair and send back out - is profit making.

Also - the prices of some of the service parts are atrocious. We used to charge like £350 for a failed iMac HDD.

Effectively what they do is charge far more than (new) retail for refurb parts, and only warranty them for 90 days. labour costs are minimal considering most geniuses make < £10/hour.
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BGPL Avatar
66 months ago
This is more than a little hard to believe, with their cost of fixing a display. And third party "fixit" stores are selling displays and doing the repairs for cheaper, and still making money - and they don't have access to Apple's supply lines. It doesn't make any sense, I'm calling rubbish.
Score: 29 Votes (Like | Disagree)
xizdun Avatar
66 months ago
Lies, Apple! The same way Apple did not benefit from throttling iPhone batteries? What utter lies, Apple. Shame on you, Tim Cook.

Does Apple not profit from selling AppleCare+ insurance by selling poorly protected hardware? Which other tech company sells its own-brand insurance alongside its hardware [as prominently as Apple]?

Apple benefits from making hardware more difficult to repair and easy to damage (with dust and spills). Customers opt to purchase new hardware instead of repairing their existing Apple hardware.

My wife spilled water onto the keyboard of her MacBook Air a couple months ago, and the MBA turned off within seconds. While researching the issue online, I discovered Louis Rossmann on YouTube and follow him closely now. I took the device to Rossmann based on his transparency.

He makes no secret of his hate for Apple and how difficult, and sometimes impossible, Apple has made it for independent repair/service providers to fix Apple hardware, namely MacBooks.

Watch and learn: How Apple is shaping the future of repair.

Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
citysnaps Avatar
66 months ago
That repair costs exceed repair revenue doesn't surprise me at all.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)