Is it legal to fix an iPhone with a non original battery in California?

Question

I got my iPhone XR battery replaced 6 months ago. I chose a bigger capacity battery. The tech guy told me it is not apple's original part. But I decided to give it a shot. Battery life has been working great for me.

The same phone got its screen cracked (I dropped the phone), so yesterday I went to the Apple store for a replacement since I like apple's original screen, but apple refuses to provide screen replacement service due to the fact that they found there is some third-party hardware in the phone.

Question 1: Can apple just do that?

Question 2: is it legal for anyone to fix a phone with a non-original part as a replacement in California? (The tech guy will not get into any trouble ?)

Answer 1

To answer the question in the headline, yes, it is legal to install a non-original battery in an iPhone. In a 2016 Supreme Court case regarding another consumer electronics product (in that case, printers), the Court found that once a company has sold a product they cannot dictate how it is used. Since the phone is your property you are free to repair as you see fit.

Re your edit: The tech making the repair would not get in trouble either, unless they separately had a contract with Apple that forbade them from doing the repair; that's not something you as a customer can account for.

You do not say if your phone is under warranty. If it is not, Apple is generally free to decline to service it for any reason. For information about your rights under warranty, see bta's excellent answer on this same question. There is also good information in the comments on this answer.

Answer 2

What Apple did is an unfortunately common practice that in most cases is indeed illegal. In recent years, with the rise in support for "right to repair" movements, the FTC has been more aggressive about sending official warnings to companies that try to deny warranty repairs to people who use third-party parts or repair services. According to the FTC, these limitations are prohibited by the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and could potentially be seen as "deceptive statements" under the FTC Act.

There are limitations to this, though. The manufacturer can legally require you to use "official" replacement parts if they provide those parts/services for free, as is often the case for safety recalls. They can also apply for a waiver from the FTC, but those are not common or easy to get.

All that being said, companies will still act like they can do this, though "warranty void if removed" stickers and with clauses in warranty contracts. Even if those things are not enforceable, they're convincing enough that a large portion of the user base won't take a chance on using third-party parts or services. Customer support personnel are even instructed to deny warranty claims on hardware with third-party parts, even though the company knows they can't legally do that. If this happens to you, your recourse is to take the company to small claims court. Between the hassles of filing a suit and the restrictions in the "Terms of Service" agreement (mandatory arbitration, use of a specific venue, waiver of right to class action, etc.), the company knows that exceedingly few people are going to bother suing them. They know they're in the wrong, but enforcing your rights is too expensive compared to what you get in return. That's why it's good to see the FTC working on this from the top, where the problem can be solved more efficiently. They released a report in May of 2021 that explains the overall problems to Congress. Executive Order 14036 instructs the FTC to pursue solutions more aggressively, and shortly afterwards the FTC unanimously voted to investigate and address these sorts of illegal warranty restrictions "with vigor".

If you don't want to go through small claims court or if this isn't a warranty repair, you have a couple of options. You can put the original battery back in, get the screen repaired (at a different location), and then swap back to the larger battery. Alternatively, you can have a third-party service provider install a new screen. Many can obtain OEM hardware by salvaging parts from secondhand devices.

Answer 3

Your issue has a name: Right to Repair

Obviously companies would like very much to block your right to fix your own products, or force you to take service only from their authorized dealers. Fortunately, thanks to the auto industry, this is a well-trod area of law, although as "products" and "services" keep getting closer and closer together, manufacturers just keep trying. Automakers too - just look at Rich Rebuilds on Youtube, and his struggle with Right to Repair on Tesla cars.

Again fortunately, the political sense in Washington right now, and in California generally, is to strongly protect Right to Repair.

• It will be very difficult for manufacturers to make it illegal for you to fix it.
• Third party repairmen cannot get in legal trouble. (though, manufacturers can hassle them in petty ways; again see Rich Rebuilds.)

However, this doesn't help a lot with your case.

Let's look at your list of recourses.

Warranties do not apply to user-caused damage. For instance if you crash your car, Ford does not cover that under warranty. That is insurance. Similarly, you broke your screen, which is not a factory defect, so it's a matter of insurance not warranty. As such it's not subject to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

This gets confusing because it's often bundled.

Apple had every right to refuse a warranty repair as it was not a factory defect.

Apple has the right to set any condition on their insurance contract which is not unreasonable, and you can read the contract and see. And in particular things which increase their likelihood of a claim. For instance, that battery may have been thicker than a stock battery, possibly contributing to the screen breakage. Your recourse is to decline that insurance coverage, and get it from someone else.

As far as taking cash for an off-insurance repair, where Apple is playing the role of any random repairman... like any business Apple has the right to refuse service to anyone. *

So yes, Apple can just do that.

* barring certain prohibited categories, like race, religion, national origin and the like.

The financier also gets a say.

Note that if you're not paying $1000-ish upfront for a nice iPhone), there's some sort of financing going on behind the scenes, with the phone as security. Your rights to modify it are limited because you don't own it free and clear. This is often shrouded in smoke and mirrors, like the "free phone" you get in exchange for a contract commitment. Not free, and not yours (yet)... read the contract.