The Dilemma of Durability and Repairability: A Discussion on Apple's iPhone Design Philosophy
When it comes to technology, there are always trade-offs between different design priorities. One such dilemma that has been debated by tech enthusiasts for years is the balance between durability and repairability. While a durable device may seem like a better option in the short term, it can ultimately be more expensive and environmentally unfriendly in the long run. On the other hand, a device that is easy to repair may not be as reliable or long-lasting.
For Apple, the answer to this dilemma has been to design devices with durability in mind, while also making them difficult to repair. This approach has led some to criticize the company for prioritizing aesthetics and profit over the needs of its customers and the environment. However, others argue that the benefits of a durable device outweigh the costs of limited repairability.
One way to think about this dilemma is by considering two extremes: a device that never fails, and one that can be replaced infinitely but is not very reliable. While neither option is ideal, they represent two possible approaches to designing devices with durability in mind. On one hand, a device that never fails may seem like the ultimate goal for any tech enthusiast. However, this approach often comes at a cost, both financially and environmentally.
In reality, most devices will fail at some point, and it's how we respond to that failure that matters. For many consumers, being able to replace or repair their device when it breaks is more important than having a device that never fails. This is especially true for those who value convenience and flexibility, as well as those who prioritize affordability.
Batteries are an interesting case study when it comes to durability and repairability. While batteries wear out over time, advances in technology have made them safer and more reliable. However, this has also led to a shift in design priorities, with devices becoming increasingly difficult to repair. In the early days of smartphones, water ingress was one of the most common causes of failure. To address this issue, manufacturers began incorporating waterproofing and sealing technologies into their designs.
One notable example is Apple's IP68 rating, which represents a high level of resistance to water ingress. This rating has become increasingly important in recent years, as consumers seek out devices that can withstand the rigors of daily life. However, achieving this level of durability comes at a cost, both in terms of design complexity and repairability.
While it's true that designing devices with IP68 ratings and other waterproofing technologies can make them more difficult to repair, it's also worth considering the broader benefits of these designs. For example, reducing the number of repairs needed can help minimize electronic waste and reduce the environmental impact of device production.
Ultimately, the question of whether durability or repairability should take priority is complex and depends on individual values and needs. While some consumers may prioritize aesthetics and profit over the ability to repair their devices, others will prioritize affordability, convenience, and flexibility. By considering both sides of the argument, we can better understand the trade-offs involved in designing devices with durability in mind.
One perspective comes from Apple's own design philosophy, which seems to prioritize durability above all else. While this approach has led to some impressive achievements in terms of water resistance and other durability metrics, it also raises important questions about repairability and sustainability. By considering the complexities of both durability and repairability, we can begin to build a more nuanced understanding of the trade-offs involved in designing modern technology.
The concept of a "sliding scale" between durability and repairability is particularly interesting when considering this dilemma. While some designs may prioritize one over the other, it's clear that these priorities are not mutually exclusive. In fact, many design decisions involve balancing competing demands for performance, aesthetics, and environmental sustainability. By recognizing the interplay between different design priorities, we can work towards creating devices that are both durable and repairable.
In conclusion, the dilemma of durability and repairability is a complex one, with trade-offs that depend on individual values and needs. While some consumers may prioritize durability above all else, others will prioritize affordability, convenience, and flexibility. By considering both sides of the argument and recognizing the interplay between different design priorities, we can work towards creating devices that are both durable and repairable.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en♪ Ah, ah, ah, yeah, yeah ♪♪ Ah, ah, ah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪- So a couple days ago Idropped a Twitter thread,yes, I still call it Twitter,and I severely underestimatedhow many of you guyswould be interested in it.But then a lot of the conversationthat it drove was really interesting,and a lot of discussions thathappened afterward were funto participate in,so I figured I would dropeven more of the footage here.So I'm back with more of my footageand clips from my visitto Apple's secret iPhonedurability testing labs.So if you ever wonderedhow an iPhone getswater resistance tested,or drop tested, or shaken like crazybefore it gets announced on stage,these are the labs whereall of that happens.And then they have to connect the dotsbetween their test resultsand how they actually buildphones, which is fascinating.So the first thing that I saw wasthe water resistance testing.So I think a lot of us kind of takefor granted at this pointmost high-end smartphones,most flagships have IP68 ratings.But a lot of people don'tactually think about it,that that is a code,where IP stands for ingress protection,and then the first number is for solids,and then the second number is for liquids.And so each of these numbersgets higher and higheras it's more protected against ingress.So some, like, earbuds orheadphones, for example,you might see they are IPX4 rated.That just means they'renot protected from dust,but from water, they canwithstand some light splashesfrom any direction.So sweat. Great.So the first iPhones all the way upto the iPhone 6s were notwater resistant at all,at least not rated to be,but then the first water-resistant iPhone,iPhone 7, was IP67 water resistant.And then now we see everything being IP68,meaning it can literally be underwaterfor an extended period of time.And so this is what it looks liketo actually test that stuff.There's literally specialty equipment justto torture phones with waterand make sure they can survive.So lots of companies have these things,but it was cool to see it in person.So the lowest level of thistest is basically a drip ceilingto simulate rain and splashing.So there's no real water pressure here.But a pass is good for IPX4 on this test.But then to simulate some water pressure,they have these jets thatrotate around the deviceand spray it with water from all angles.Into the speakers, into the earpiece,into the ports, everything.And if it's able to pass this test,that's good for IPX5.It seems so simple, but it'salso pretty cool to see.I've never actually watched this happen.To turn it up to 11, theyjust put the phone on one endand stick basically a literalfire hose on the other endand just blast the phonewith high-pressure water.Kind of looks insane,but if we want our modern smartphonesto be able to get splashedfrom any angle many timesover its lifetime and survive,then it has to survive this.And then it earns its IPX6 rating.But then, finally, for IPX7 and IPX8,that's full submersion.So they have some lockable sealed tanks.But some of you may already know that IPX8is supposed to be underdeep water for long time.So they actually havethis pressurized tankwhere they can turn up the pressure insideto simulate different water depthsand leave phones in thereas long as they want.So now, ideally, today,if you drop your phone in thetoilet, or spill water on it,or drop it in a lake, whatever,for as long as it's downthere, it should survive.Which, again, we kindof take it for granted,but that's all the seals and the gasketsand all the adhesives andthings that go into getting itto pass those tests are what get itto pass the real-world tests.Now, there is an entireseparate type of testingthat you might havealready seen on YouTube.That is, drop testing.And it turns out Apple has been doingtheir own internal droptesting for years now.So it turns out, in the same building,Apple's set up this full onindustrial robot by Epsonthat they've programmedto be a drop test robot.And then they've set it upin front of these ultrabright lightsand super-high-speedPhantom cameras pointedat the exact spot on the groundwhere the phone will land.So the idea here is theycan program the robotto pick up the phone anddrop it onto any surface.(robot whirring)And then they can have itrepeat that exact motionand that exact same dropon the exact same angleover and over again, butwith different surfaces,and they can A/B test themand take a look at exactly what happened.And then those of youwho are camera nerds,you already know these Phantomcameras are pretty serious.I don't remember the exact frame ratethey told me they were shooting at,but it's pretty incredible.You can actually see the titaniumon this iPhone 15 Pro wobbleon its first impact with the ground.And its second impact too.So yeah, they had all kindsof different materialsto do drop tests, fromgranite countertops to marble,to corkboard and wood, et cetera.They even had this massive blockof asphalt just sitting there,just waiting to see how theiPhone reacts to being droppedin the streets, you know?But this is a fascinating setup.Now, of course, the fact is,most phones still just break immediatelywhen you drop them on the ground.So I kind of wonder how much of this datais actually getting translatedinto real changes of phone design.But it's still cool that Igot to see all this stuff.And then the hardest one to capture,for me, anyway, is the shaking tests.Yeah, that's exactly what itsounds like. Shaking tests.Apple has rooms full of machinesthat are literally trays ofdevices strapped to a surfacethat's being shaken thousands of timesat a specific frequency.It's actually kind of hard to record,because if my shutter speedis at the right number,it doesn't even really looklike anything's moving.Kind of like how car wheelsdon't look like they're spinningif you have the right camera settings.But I did get a few clipswhere like I put my hand on it,and you can see it's moving a lot.They're using this machine totry to simulate years of wearand tear out in the real world.Apparently, they canprogram in the frequencyof a certain motorcycleengine, or a car engine,or subway car, or whateverconstant vibrationthat they just want to check up on,to make sure everythingholds up to exposureto it over a very long time.But I really think themost fascinating thingabout all this testing is they are trying,before the phone even comes out,they're trying to simulateyears of wear and tearin the real world, with real customers,in a small room under thebasement of Apple Park,with, like, the machinesthat they've designed.It's a fascinating connectionthey've gotta make.And I spoke to John Ternus,who's the head of hardwareengineering at Apple,about this process, andhe mentioned, apparently,they go through sometimes 10,000 iPhones,prototypes, before theyactually ship a final phone,with all this durability testing.Which sounds crazy.I don't know what number Ithought it was in my head,but it seems insane that they'llmake 10,000 phones to breakbefore they ship one.And actually, while I had John there,I felt like this was aunique opportunity to ask,'cause I've never really heard peoplefrom Apple actually speakout about the durability,but also the repairability of the iPhone.Like, we all know Apple'sreputation for repairability:not great.Like, the iPhone's notoriouslyvery difficult to repair.But also, now it's a little clearerbecause the more I've thought about it,the more it feels like, I mean,Apple's just shown me aton of durability labs,and durability feels like it's directlyat odds with repairability.Like, it actually feels likeit's basically a sliding scale,with durability on one sideand repairability on the other.And the more durable youwant to make your thing,the less repairableyou're making your thing.And all these decisionsthat go into makingand designing a productare kind of pushing itback and forth along this scale.So take a listen to this.- But sometimes, for me,I find it helpful to kindof think about the bookends.Like, if you imagine a productthat never fails, right,that just doesn't fail.And on the other end,a product that maybe isn't very reliable,but is super easy to repair.- Right.- A product that never failsis obviously better for the customer.It's better for the environment.- Okay, it's interestingyou put it that way,'cause on one end you havethe product that never fails.On the other hand, you have the productthat can be replaced infinitely,but it's not as reliable.- Yep.- That downside of beingnot as reliable comesfrom being infinitely repairable.But I think someone would arguethat the downside of beingreally hard to repair comesfrom being almost infinitely durable.- Sure, but they're notalways mutually exclusive.Like, those are kind of the bookends.So let me give you, like,a couple of examples.I think a battery on an iPhoneas being an important one.On an iPhone, on any phone,a battery is something,if you want to extendthe life of the product,that's something that's gonnaneed to be replaced, right?Batteries wear out.As we've been makingiPhones for a long time,in the early days, oneof the most common typesof failures was water ingress, right?Where you drop it in a pool,or you, you know, spill your drink on it,and the unit fails.And so we've been makingstrides over all those yearsto get better and better and betterin terms of minimizing those failures.And I don't know howmany years it's been now,but we got to a point of IP68,which is kind of arating for water ingress,which is really impressive.And I think you get tosee some of these tests,right?- Yeah.- And it's great because weget these stories of people,you know, literally, Idropped my phone in the lake.I couldn't get it for two weeks.I fished it out, it stillworks. They're super excited.That said, to get the product there,you've gotta design alot of seals, adhesives,other things to make it perform that way,which makes it a little harderto do that battery repair.You still need to do the battery repair,so we need to make sure we have a solutionfor customers to do that, which we do.But it's objectivelybetter for the customerto have that reliability.And it's ultimately better for the planet,because the failure ratessince we got to thatpoint have just dropped.It's plummeted, right?The number of repairs that need to happen.And every time you're doing a repair,you're bringing in new materials,you know, to replace whatever broke.So you can actually do the mathand figure out there's a thresholdat which if I can make it this durable,then it's better to have it alittle bit harder to repair,'cause it's gonna net out ahead.- So yeah, that checks out.I found that kind of interestingthat we've never really heard anyonefrom Apple speak directly about this.Now, of course, in a dream world,if Apple's goal is tomake the ultimate phonethat never ever breaks,then they probably shouldn'tbe making it from glass.'Cause in the words ofJerryRigEverything, glass is glass.Glass breaks.But still, they're trying to pushas far towards that end as possible.And it is interesting to hear a little bitof the behind the sceneson the philosophy there.But yeah, that's been it.That's my behind-the-scenes lookat Apple's durability testing labsthat we've never seen before.Make sure you subscribe to see more stuff,very cool, like this coming up soon,and let me know what youthink about this sliding scaleof durability versus repair.Catch you guys in the next one. Peace.(relaxing upbeat music)\n"
