The iPhone gets a D- for repairability

The iPhone is the least repairable phone on the market, according to repairability experts. Phones from Samsung and Google are not far behind.

The latest recoverability ratings come from an annual report called “The Fix failed” released today by the consumer advocacy group American PIRG. Until 2021 French law require products to be labeled with repairability scores, and US PIRG says this is the first report since then that actually shows which companies are making progress—or not. The answer is that repairability is progressing much faster in some places than others.

The results were good for phones powered by Motorolawho got a B+. Google’s phones got a C-. The verdict was worse for Samsung phoneswho got a D. Last on the list was Appeal with a D-. Apple and Samsung did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Scores were better for laptops than smartphones, with Asus at the top with a B+ and Apple at the bottom with its MacBooks at a C–.

The authors of the report hope that publishing these low scores will encourage manufacturers to do better.

“Putting these right incentives in place can push these companies to make innovations that are actually beneficial,” said Nathan Proctor, senior director of the American PIRG Campaign for the Right to Restore. “Instead of coming up with new ways to shove AI down our throats, you can make things that last and that we can fix.”

Despite many right to recover concessions companies have made—such as making their tools, parts and repair instructions publicly available—the ranking is lower than in past years, largely due to new information gleaned from European laws requiring repair counts to be printed on product packaging.

French law rates products based on how easily they can be disassembled, whether documentation and tools are provided, and the availability and price of parts. In 2023, the European Union passed to the law establishment of the European Product Register for Energy Labellinga process that rates devices on key repairability factors such as whether products have easy access and disassembly, battery life, intrusive protection such as waterproofing, and the durability to handle repeated drops. The ranking goes from A to F.

To arrive at its own ratings, US PIRG combines the EPREL and France recovery indices with other US-specific factors, such as whether companies actively lobby against the right to recover or are members of trade associations that do.

“If you buy your equipment from a company that spends their money to fight against your right to repair that thing, it doesn’t speak well for their support, for your ability to fix it,” Proctor says. “So we also dock points for some of those legislative activities.”

Apple’s phones get better scores than in the past, like then iPhones F rating in 2022. (iPhones got a C– in 2025.) The low rating for Apple’s phones comes down to software support, and how EU laws track the information about what companies allow in their products. Based on EU laws, companies must self-report how their devices meet repair requirements. And those rankings tend to score pretty low.

“When we graded on a curve, Apple was not an outlier in the bad column,” says Proctor. “But why are we grading on a curve? We just have to have products that last longer.”

The ultimate goal of this ranking, says Proctor, is to draw attention to the importance of reparability, accessibility and waste reduction.

“This is an emerging, critically important issue on which we need better leadership from companies and other public policy officials,” says Proctor. “We shouldn’t be trashing all our internet-connected stuff every few years because it’s impossible to use it with the software. It’s totally unsustainable. It’s crazy. Let’s not build that world. That world is a dystopia.”

“I’m actually pretty confident that some of that stuff is going to be addressed,” Proctor adds. “Apple engineers are good at making things. They are good at solving problems.”