Apple

Parts availability

8/100

Schematics

10/100

Repair friendliness

12/100

OEM pricing

12/100

Software locks

22/100

AirPods (AirPods Pro, AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 3) all score 0/10 on iFixit: glued/epoxied shut, soldered or glued-in batteries, no components serviceable without destruction, treated as disposable. Apple Watch Series 9/10 score only 3/10 (adhesive-heavy, tight seams). No official replacement parts or repair instructions for either category (Apple Self Service Repair excludes AirPods and Apple Watch). AirPods battery 'service' is effectively whole-unit replacement; firmware pairing and Watch Activation Lock further impede repair.

Parts availability

55/100

Schematics

38/100

Repair friendliness

45/100

OEM pricing

32/100

Software locks

28/100

PIRG 'Failing the Fix' 2026 graded Apple laptops C- (worst of the 8 popular brands, 'fares the worst by far' on disassembly). iFixit scores recent MacBooks 4-5/10 (MacBook Pro M5 = 4/10, MacBook Air M4 = 5/10): battery now screwed not glued, but soldered RAM/storage, riveted keyboard, proprietary pentalobe screws. Self Service Repair makes some parts/manuals available but no schematics, parts are expensive, and aggressive parts-pairing/System Configuration locks penalize independent repair. Equal-weight average lands in F under this rubric (pricing + software locks are Apple's weakest axes); PIRG's C- is more generous because the French index excludes pricing/lock penalties.

Parts availability

72/100

Schematics

58/100

Repair friendliness

70/100

OEM pricing

40/100

Software locks

48/100

iFixit scores the iPhone 15 Pro / 16 at 7/10 and Apple runs an official Self Service Repair program with genuine parts and full repair manuals, so disassembly and parts access score well. But OEM parts are expensive and parts-pairing/software locks drag it down: Apple extended Activation Lock to individual parts and iFixit's testing found continued Face ID replacement restrictions even after the iOS 18 Repair Assistant improvement; aftermarket parts remain largely restricted. PIRG's 2026 EPREL-based scorecard gives Apple a D- (lowest of the four major brands); on this stricter equal-weight 5-axis rubric (pricing + parts-pairing weighted equally) it lands a high-F. No true board-level schematics are published.

Parts availability

70/100

Schematics

65/100

Repair friendliness

35/100

OEM pricing

40/100

Software locks

30/100

iFixit rates iPads among the worst tablets: iPad 6/7 = 2/10, iPad Air 6 and iPad Pro 11" = 3/10, with the M5 iPad Pro (Oct 2025) earning Apple's best-ever iPad score of just 5/10 due to a 'repair paradox' of glued, fragile displays. Apple launched Self Service Repair for iPad in May 2025 (genuine displays, batteries, cameras, ports + manuals + Apple Diagnostics), so parts/manual availability is now real, but serialized components require System Configuration (parts pairing) or features degrade, and OEM parts are priced at authorized-provider rates (high). Adhesive-heavy construction is the dominant penalty.