Lenovo PC boss: 4 in 5 of our devices will be repairable by 2025
(2023/10/05)
- Reference: 1696513506
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/10/05/lenovo_pc_boss_4_in/
- Source link:
Canalys EMEA Forum 2023 Lenovo is forecasting that the vast majority of its devices will be repairable by 2025 – as will the repair parts themselves – but it is not intending to specify where customers should have their kit fixed.
Talking on stage at the Canalys EMEA Forum 2023, Luca Rossi, senior vice resident at Lenovo and president of its Intelligent Devices Group, said the company has committed to a net zero emission policy by 2050, and analyzing the components used in its hardware is part of the equation.
Europe's right-to-repair law asks hardware makers for fixes for up to 10 years [1]READ MORE
"On repairability, we have a plan that by 2025 more than 80 percent of the repair parts will be repaired again so that they they enter into the circular economy to reduce the impact to the environment."
He added: "More than 80 percent of our devices will be able to be repaired at the customer, by the customer or by the channel and we are enabling this with a design for serviceability kind of approach."
This means that "batteries, SSD, many things, will not any longer be sealed into the product but will be available for the customer to be to repaired on site and then save a lot of waste."
[2]
The world's largest PC maker doesn't have a terrible reputation in terms of the ease at which its gadgets can be mended, unlike Apple. The ThinkPad T14 Gen 3, for example, was assigned a fixability score of [3]7 out of 10 by Fixit; and the Framework 13 got top marks.
[4]
[5]
Lenovo and other vendors aren't going to make hardware easier to fix out of the goodness of their own hearts: the [6]European Council last month started to update EU rules to ensure consumers are better informed about the lifespan and repairability of the tech devices they buy. The requirements should be finalized before June next year.
[7]Right to repair advocates have a new opponent: Scientologists
[8]We all scream for ice cream – so why are McDonald's machines always broken?
[9]After years of fighting Right to Repair, Apple U-turns-ish in California
[10]Logitech, iFixit to offer parts to stop folks binning their computer mouse
[11]Chromebook expiration date, repair issues 'bad for people and planet'
[12]New York gets right-to-repair law – after some industry-friendly repairs to the rules
Similar right to repair movements are also happening stateside, including in [13]California and [14]New York .
Yet won't easing repairability hit Lenovo in the pocket as consumers and businesses, in theory at least, get a simpler solution to keep their devices running for longer? Canalys CEO Steve Brazier put this question to Rossi on stage.
"I think you cannot you cannot look at this in this way," he said, adding the future looks very rosy for tech companies. "There are so many opportunities that frankly thinking I'm not worried that we will damage our business by doing what is right for the planet. Not at all." ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/22/new_eu_right_to_repair/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZR7domrPoC7y5zuuYiaL3AAAAQ8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/laptop-scores
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZR7domrPoC7y5zuuYiaL3AAAAQ8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZR7domrPoC7y5zuuYiaL3AAAAQ8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/21/right_to_repair/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/01/right_to_repair_scientology/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/31/ifixit_ice_cream_machine/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/24/apple_california_right_repair/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/17/logitech_teams_up_with_ifixit/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/18/chromebook_expiration_date_and_repair/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/30/new_york_repair_bill/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/13/apple_california_right_repair/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/30/new_york_repair_bill/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Talking on stage at the Canalys EMEA Forum 2023, Luca Rossi, senior vice resident at Lenovo and president of its Intelligent Devices Group, said the company has committed to a net zero emission policy by 2050, and analyzing the components used in its hardware is part of the equation.
Europe's right-to-repair law asks hardware makers for fixes for up to 10 years [1]READ MORE
"On repairability, we have a plan that by 2025 more than 80 percent of the repair parts will be repaired again so that they they enter into the circular economy to reduce the impact to the environment."
He added: "More than 80 percent of our devices will be able to be repaired at the customer, by the customer or by the channel and we are enabling this with a design for serviceability kind of approach."
This means that "batteries, SSD, many things, will not any longer be sealed into the product but will be available for the customer to be to repaired on site and then save a lot of waste."
[2]
The world's largest PC maker doesn't have a terrible reputation in terms of the ease at which its gadgets can be mended, unlike Apple. The ThinkPad T14 Gen 3, for example, was assigned a fixability score of [3]7 out of 10 by Fixit; and the Framework 13 got top marks.
[4]
[5]
Lenovo and other vendors aren't going to make hardware easier to fix out of the goodness of their own hearts: the [6]European Council last month started to update EU rules to ensure consumers are better informed about the lifespan and repairability of the tech devices they buy. The requirements should be finalized before June next year.
[7]Right to repair advocates have a new opponent: Scientologists
[8]We all scream for ice cream – so why are McDonald's machines always broken?
[9]After years of fighting Right to Repair, Apple U-turns-ish in California
[10]Logitech, iFixit to offer parts to stop folks binning their computer mouse
[11]Chromebook expiration date, repair issues 'bad for people and planet'
[12]New York gets right-to-repair law – after some industry-friendly repairs to the rules
Similar right to repair movements are also happening stateside, including in [13]California and [14]New York .
Yet won't easing repairability hit Lenovo in the pocket as consumers and businesses, in theory at least, get a simpler solution to keep their devices running for longer? Canalys CEO Steve Brazier put this question to Rossi on stage.
"I think you cannot you cannot look at this in this way," he said, adding the future looks very rosy for tech companies. "There are so many opportunities that frankly thinking I'm not worried that we will damage our business by doing what is right for the planet. Not at all." ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/22/new_eu_right_to_repair/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZR7domrPoC7y5zuuYiaL3AAAAQ8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.ifixit.com/repairability/laptop-scores
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZR7domrPoC7y5zuuYiaL3AAAAQ8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZR7domrPoC7y5zuuYiaL3AAAAQ8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/21/right_to_repair/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/01/right_to_repair_scientology/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/31/ifixit_ice_cream_machine/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/24/apple_california_right_repair/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/17/logitech_teams_up_with_ifixit/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/18/chromebook_expiration_date_and_repair/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/30/new_york_repair_bill/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/13/apple_california_right_repair/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/30/new_york_repair_bill/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Ian Johnston
All the IBM Thinkpads, and may of the early Lenovo ones, were wonderfully repairable. Not only manuals online, but videos showing how to do all the tricky bits. I've had an R40e and X30/31/32s to bits with no problems at all.
Tom Chiverton 1
Too late, we're only buying Frame.work from now on, which does all this already.
43300
So we'll be back where we were about ten years ago, since when all the major manufactures have steadily made thier devices less repairable...
My practical knowledge is mostly of Dell, where they've taken such maintenance-friendly steps as redesigning the Latitudes so that instead of two screws, two or three clips and a ribbon cable to replace a keyboard (five minutes max) it's now necessary to dismantle the thing including removing the motherboard.
T series Thinkpads used to be some of the most repairable laptops around. Not only were parts available, but the repair and maintenance manuals were in the Internet, and for free.
I don't know about the board schematics, but if you have access to replacement boards at a reasonable price (which Apple don't make available) then board level fixes are less important, and can be handled in a return channel for replaced parts. This way you can fix a system quickly by replacing the board, and have the old board returned for re-work.
I think Lenovo lost their way a bit (as did all of the laptop makers) when they tried to out-Apple Apple. If it's true, this is a welcome return to previous form.