It’s the weekend again, meaning it’s time for us to reveal our winner and loser of the week.
This week saw multiple announcements from DJI, including the beginner-friendly Avata 2 FPV drone and the RS 4 and RS 4 Pro professional gimbals. Roku unveiled its newest TV software, Kobo brought colour to its e-readers, and Dyson debuted a new AR feature that’ll give you a nudge when you’ve missed a spot.
Keep reading to discover who we named our winner and loser this week.
Winner: Apple
Apple is our winner this week as the company announced it would be expanding its repair service to offer genuine used parts. This includes Apple’s Self Service Repair program, which enables iPhone users to fix their own devices at home.
Used Apple parts will boast the same functionality and security found on brand-new, factory-calibrated parts, giving users a more sustainable repair option when their iPhones break down.
On top of this, customers will no longer be required to provide their device’s serial number when ordering parts from the Self Service Repair Store for any repairs that do not involve replacing the logic board.
Apple has also put measures in place to prevent an increase in theft to obtain used part. The company has announced that its Activation Lock feature – which currently prevents lost and stolen iPhones from being reactivated – will extend to cover parts. This means that parts taken from phones with Activation Lock or Lost Mode enabled will see their capabilities restricted in an effort to deter iPhone thieves.
Starting with select models this autumn, you’ll be able to order used parts to repair your iPhone on the cheap – or, at least, we hope it’ll be affordable. While we were excited to hear that Apple had launched its self-repair program in 2022, we were disappointed to discover that repair bundles were only slightly cheaper than asking Apple to do out-of-warranty work for you.
Hopefully, these used parts will cost less than their shiny new counterparts, making repairs a more tempting prospect and increasing the lifespan of iPhones in general.
Loser: Google
This month’s loser is Google as the company announced it would be axing its Google One VPN service.
Google has been including a free VPN – or Virtual Private Network – with its Google One cloud storage service since 2020. This allowed users to protect their browsing and hide their IP address when surfing the web.
However, the VPN is set to disappear in the coming months, according to an email sent out to subscribers. Google confirmed to 9to5Google that it will be “discontinuing the VPN feature as [they] found people simply weren’t using it”.
The goal behind ending the service is to allow the team behind the VPN to refocus on the Google One features that are more in demand.
This will be disappointing news for any users who considered the Google One VPN a major incentive in subscribing to Google’s cloud storage service.
