People like to ascribe malice to Apple's history of making difficult-to-repair devices. I think that's wrong-headed. It's more appropriate to say that Apple had higher priorities such as miniaturization, performance, battery life, and ease of manufacture.
Now that the right to repair movement has been gaining steam and regulations are being drafted, Apple has been given the incentive to prioritize repairability. Thus they are responding to that incentive with the iPhone 16 (with its new battery adhesive), the repair kits, and the documentation they've provided. They likely also see the opportunity to get ahead of their competitors and tout repairability as a competitive advantage. I would not be surprised at all to see future models have even higher repairability scores with Apple aiming to become the market leader.
As for the serial numbering and activation of replacement parts: that also has a simple explanation that doesn't involve a nefarious lock-in plot. Witness the recent attacks in Lebanon. How were they carried out? By a supply-chain attack! This sort of capability represents more than a physical danger from explosives or chemical weapons, it's also a major cyber security and privacy threat. Supply-chain attacks via counterfeit, backdoored parts is a huge area of concern for Apple. The potential is there for the company to suffer severe reputational damage should a large-scale attack occur.
[0]: https://www.ifixit.com/News/14279/apples-diabolical-plan-to-...
Personally, as much as I accept that the top chips were made in Taiwan, I don’t think it’s impossible in theory for top chips to be made in the U.S.- but it would require massive changes. Starting with the culture. We’d need to turn off the T.V., work longer hours, and homeschool kids for 15 hours per day with the world’s best educational resources. And even when other countries’ kids and parents do that, they still don’t succeed.
But, I think China will end up being self-sufficient, not needing the rest of the world. In a few years, they’ll be charging an arm and a leg for AI. The rest of the world won’t be able to compete with because we don’t have adequate energy production. They’ll also acquire the ability to make the chips they need.
We could just give it up, and I think that’s where most of us are- watching fascism slowly take hold, knowing we’re fucked and the next thing we’ll see is news of a full-scale global war.
In the meantime, maybe we’ll start making shitty products like Britain did in the mid-20th century.