In the market for a new phone or laptop? This scorecard will tell you which popular products are built to last
Is your smartphone or laptop built to last and easy to repair if need be? Or is it destined for a landfill in another year or so?
U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s “Failing the Fix” scorecard, released on March 8, can help you answer these questions. Products that carry unnecessary restrictions on access to repair tools and software lead you to spend money replacing your devices instead of repairing them — which, in turn, harms our planet by contributing to our rapidly growing electronic waste problem.
“No one walks into the store and thinks ‘I’m going to buy something unfixable,’” said Nathan Proctor, author of the report and U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s senior Right to Repair campaign director.
“Popular tech device manufacturers like Apple need to do more to empower consumers to keep their products in use for longer, instead of having to toss them and waste money on new ones.”
Authors
Aaron Colonnese
Former Content Creator, Editorial & Creative Team, The Public Interest Network
Find Out More
Why do we replace our laptops every few years?
‘When will my Chromebook expire?’ Why computers should be designed to last.
Right to Repair in 2022: What happened in New York, and our top accomplishments
