Apple and Lenovo Laptops Rank Lowest for Repairability
▼ Summary
– Apple received the lowest grades in a PIRG report, earning a C-minus for laptop repairability and a D-minus for cell phone repairability.
– The report analyzed the 10 newest laptops and phones available in France, using criteria based on the French repairability index.
– PIRG adjusted the French scoring method to give more weight to the physical ease of disassembling a product.
– The full French index criteria include the availability and affordability of spare parts, repair documentation, and product-specific factors.
– A company’s final grade was reduced by 0.5 points for membership in industry groups opposing right-to-repair legislation.
A new analysis from the Public Interest Research Group Education Fund reveals significant disparities in how easy it is to fix popular electronics, with Apple laptops and smartphones receiving some of the lowest marks. The advocacy group’s latest report, which evaluates the repairability of devices based on disassembly difficulty and access to repair information, awarded Apple a C-minus for its laptops and a D-minus for its phones. This assessment highlights ongoing concerns within the right-to-repair movement about manufacturer practices that complicate user maintenance.
The study, titled “Failing the Fix (2026),” examined the ten most recent laptop and phone models listed on each manufacturer’s French website this past January. PIRG utilizes the French market for its analysis because the country mandates a repairability index be displayed on products, providing a standardized framework for evaluation. The group advocates that companies should extend the transparency required in France to all their products sold globally, arguing that consumers everywhere deserve clear information about product fixability.
In scoring the laptops, PIRG adapted the French index but placed greater emphasis on the physical ease of disassembly. The organization contends that this factor is what most consumers intuitively associate with a repair score. Other categories from the French system include the availability of detailed repair documentation, the accessibility of spare parts, the affordability of those parts relative to the product’s total cost, and additional product-specific criteria.
Final grades were calculated by averaging a device’s total French index score with its isolated disassembly score. Companies then faced a penalty of half a point for each instance of membership in industry groups like TechNet or the Consumer Technology Association, which have actively opposed right-to-repair legislation in the United States. This deduction reflects PIRG’s stance that corporate lobbying against repair-friendly policies directly contradicts consumer interests.
Alongside Apple, Lenovo laptops also ranked poorly in the repairability assessment, joining Apple at the bottom of the laptop category. The report positions these findings as a call to action, urging manufacturers to design products that are easier to open, service, and maintain. By prioritizing modular design and supporting independent repair, companies could extend product lifespans, reduce electronic waste, and empower consumers. For now, the grades suggest many leading brands have considerable room for improvement in supporting a more sustainable and repairable technology ecosystem.
(Source: Ars Technica)
