Repair experts are dissecting the iPhone 16 and discovering that Apple has kept its word on the controversial issue of parts pairing.
Earlier this year Apple said that it would end the practice of parts pairing, where only authorized components can be used for repairs and replacements, in the iPhone 16.
For example, it isn’t possible to take a genuine iPhone 15 battery from one phone and place it into another without losing some features because the part hasn’t been authenticated by Apple.
Apple does this across several of its devices and has drawn heavy criticism from the repair industry because it makes repairs expensive and wastes usable components. One described the policy of parts pairing as “punishing” consumers because the company would actively disable features like battery health data, or the Apple Pencil’s ability to draw straight lines on a repaired iPad.
The good news is that repairs at iFixit and the Phone Repair Guru have found that it is possible to reuse some parts on an iPhone 15 running iOS 18. The new repair assistant means it is possible to calibrate new components on-device without an Apple store’s involvement. The battery, back glass panel and rear cameras appear to calibrate on the device when swapped between two of the same iPhones.
But iFixit and the Phone Repair Guru also found that it’s not possible to replace the Face ID module after swapping a logic board between two iPhone 15 smartphones (which simulates swapping every component).
“Although Face ID showed that it needed calibration, going through the ‘finish repair’ process provided no option for it—just errors like ‘This part is not functioning as expected.’ On top of that, when booting back into iOS 18 and using the phone normally, the selfie camera didn’t even work, just displaying a blank image in the camera app.” An iFixit blog explained.
That doesn’t appear to be the case for the iPhone 16. YouTube channel Rewa Technology swapped the Face ID module between two iPhone 16 Pro units. After running the repair assistant tool that calibrates new components, it worked and the handset listed Face ID as a used part.
This has gone down well with repair experts. “That is the last of parts pairing…it’s near zero [paired] modules in the iPhone 16 series. This does pose the question though: If it’s possible on the iPhone 16, then the Face ID True Depth repair should be possible for all previous models when using a module from another iPhone.” Ricky Panesar, founder of iCorrect.co.uk told me.
Panesar believes the difference between a swapped Face ID module working on the iPhone 16, and not the iPhone 15, is down to Oregon’s new parts pairing law, which comes into effect on January 1st, 2025.
“They have done this with the iPhone 16 range as the right-to-repair bill notes that there should be no parts pairing for devices made in 2025. Apple will continue manufacturing the iPhone 16 into 2025.”
I have reached out to Apple to ask if it plans to remove this Face ID parts pairing restriction on the iPhone 15 range, and I will update this story if I receive a response. But it seems likely that parts pairing may be over for Apple’s iPhones going forward. We will have to see if that’s the case for older models, or other Apple devices where the practice has been found such as the MacBook and iPad.
