The consumer advocacy group Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund gave Apple the lowest grades in a new report on laptop and smartphone repairability. Apple received a C-minus for laptops and a D-minus for phones, while Lenovo also earned a C-minus for laptops. The analysis, released on April 7, 2026, evaluated devices available on manufacturers' French websites.
Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund released its “Failing the Fix (2026): Grading laptop and cell phone companies on the fixability of their products” report on April 7. The report assessed the 10 newest laptops and phones from manufacturers' French websites, using France's repairability index with added weight on physical disassembly ease. Grades factored in documentation availability, spare parts access and affordability, plus penalties for membership in industry groups like TechNet and the Consumer Technology Association opposing US right-to-repair laws, and bonuses for supporting such legislation. Apple and Lenovo both received C-minus grades for laptops, primarily due to low disassembly scores. Apple also faced a full-point deduction for its associations, as did Dell and Samsung. Lenovo additionally lost points for not properly posting required repair score PDFs on its French site, despite improvements from an F in last year's report. Lenovo had attributed prior issues to a backend web problem, now reportedly resolved, but PIRG urged further fixes. Nathan Proctor, senior director of US PIRG’s Right to Repair campaign, explained the association penalties: “While a company’s membership in these associations doesn’t mean that the company is actively in opposition to Right to Repair, they are funding an organization which is working against this legislation, which we factor in our score.” PIRG found laptop repairability stagnant across eight major US brands but noted gains in parts access. It praised Apple's MacBook Neo as more repairable. For phones, using the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (EPREL) system introduced in June 2025, Apple scored a D-minus, with Samsung close behind on a D grade. Low scores stemmed partly from five-year update guarantees rather than longer. Apple made strides by reducing parts pairing and introducing Repair Assistant, though third-party Face ID fixes remain ineffective, and Activation Lock now applies to parts.
