The hidden costs of Samsung’s restrictive right-to-repair policy

I’ve been working in the phone repair industry since 2012 and started my first business in the space in 2016. For as long as I’ve been turning screws and soldering boards, “right-to-repair” has played both the boogeyman and savior in the dreams and nightmares of repair industry entrepreneurs and workers. The movement gained momentum in the past few years after a series of lawsuits against the likes of John Deere, which fought to prevent farmers and ranchers from repairing their own equipment. It has since blossomed into an entire movement aiming to empower consumers with the ability to repair all their own devices, including their phones and tablets, with companies like iFixit leading the charge.