Profile of iFixit, the company helping us continue doing DIY repairs on modern electronics
How to Fix Everything — It happened suddenly, like most of these stories do. My alarm went off. I kicked my leg out as I jolted awake, making solid contact with my new laptop … Tweets: @adrjeffries and @jason_koebler Tweets: Adrianne Jeffries / @adrjeffries : A very cool story about the culture of repair and the iFixit dudes: http://motherboard.vice.com/ ... pic.twitter.com/XNhtmE9LwT Jason Koebler / @jason_koebler : The only startup that thrives by actively pissing off the largest companies in the world http://motherboard.vice.com/ ... pic.twitter.com/1E2qfDOTzd
Context & Ripple Effects
This 2015 Motherboard profile catches iFixit mid-arc: a parts-and-manuals business built on the bet that people still want to open their own devices, run by founders who treat antagonizing manufacturers like Apple as a feature rather than a bug — Jason Koebler's tweet calls it 'the only startup that thrives by actively pissing off the largest companies in the world.' Two years later that bet had hardened into numbers, with $21M in annual sales and 25K free repair manuals covering over 7K devices.
The profile matters because it documents the culture layer underneath what became a policy fight: Kyle Wiens later framed a Massachusetts car-repair ballot measure as directly parallel to his battle with Apple over electronics, and the movement eventually extracted concessions like Apple's Self-Service Repair kit.
First-order effects
- Device makers face a publisher that documents exactly how their products come apart — iFixit's iPhone X teardown play-by-play shows Apple launches are now dissected for repairability on day one.
- Consumers with broken hardware gain a viable alternative to manufacturer service channels: parts, tools, and free manuals from iFixit's catalog.
Second-order effects
- Apple's decision to launch Self-Service Repair — even in a form where users rent 79 lbs of tools against a $1,200 card hold — reads as a defensive response to iFixit's legitimacy-building and the advocacy around it.
- Samsung tested cooperation with the same playbook, running a two-year repair partnership with iFixit before ending it, with Wiens saying Samsung 'does not seem interested in enabling repair at scale' — showing manufacturers can opt out of the détente.
Third-order effects
- Repair is migrating from consumer subculture to codified law: Wiens explicitly tied the auto-repair ballot model to electronics, and Apple ultimately voiced support for California's Right to Repair Act, leaving software locks and unsustainable designs as the movement's next targets.
- If legislative mandates spread, teardown documentation and parts supply shift from voluntary vendor goodwill toward compliance infrastructure — changing who bears the cost of repairability across the industry.
The trend: Electronics repair is moving from a DIY niche that thrived on defying manufacturers toward a legislated right, with companies like Apple conceding ground under pressure from iFixit's model and advocacy.