Here is the rule: any company that sells phones in a country must also sell that country's owners the parts and manuals to repair them. Self service repair india shows why. An iPhone owner in Madurai with a cracked screen gets Apple's fee or a shop's guess at the right part.
Apple's repair-parts store does not serve India and no Indian law makes it, so the answer is a rule, not another launch.
- India is not alone: Apple's list covers Europe, the UK, the US and Canada, so every other market shares the gap.
- India's Right to Repair portal is voluntary and states no duty to sell parts or manuals.
- On Apple's own prices a do-it-yourself battery saves little, so the loss is the missing choice.
Why does self service repair india need a law?
Because Apple sells repair parts, tools and manuals to individuals only in countries it picks, and India's Right to Repair portal relies on voluntary signing, so no Indian buyer holds a right to cite. India is also not the only market left out. Apple's release of 28 May 2025 placed Self Service Repair in Europe, the UK and the US, with Canada next, so Australia, Japan and every other market share the gap.
Apple built the other half. In March 2021 it said its Independent Repair Provider programme would reach more than 200 countries with genuine parts and manuals (or rather, for shops that qualify), and India TV reported that India was included. A qualifying shop in Salem can buy what its customer cannot, much like end-of-support dates hidden from buyers: facts that decide a phone's life stay with the maker.
India's answer so far is a portal. The India.gov.in Right to Repair page lists mobile phones and tablets among four initial sectors and states no duty to supply parts or manuals. The Press Information Bureau said on 29 August 2024 that the portal depends on voluntary onboarding, with 23 mobile and electronics firms then signed up. Compulsion is possible: the UK has made default passwords illegal since April 2024.
Four numbers show the thin footing: Apple's August 2025 statement, the ministry's 2022 plan as TechCrunch reported it, and Cashify's September 2026 report of Apple India's prices.
Countries With Apple's Parts Store
34 countries
India sits outside the list
Share of Apple Markets Served
Under 1 in 5
Derived from Apple's two counts
Years Since Parts Were Promised
4+ years
Still no duty to supply parts
Battery Fee Step-Up
₹1,000
Charged with no alternative route
Where one seller controls the part, the fee is whatever it says and a buyer cannot test it. Abroad, Apple publishes the part price; in India it shows only the finished fee.
Fewer than one Apple market in five gets the Self Service Repair store. That is a favour, and a favour can be withdrawn; a law cannot.
Which markets give owners an enforceable right?
Of the markets compared here, only the EU backs repair access with an enforceable duty on makers: its ecodesign rules require critical parts to stay on sale, while Apple's store and India's portal rest on voluntary participation.
The European Commission's smartphone page sets the benchmark: critical parts within 5 to 10 working days, from 20 June 2025.
| Where | Rule and date | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| ⚖️ EU law | Parts for 7 years after sales end | A duty you can point to |
| 🌍 Apple's store | Opt-in store: US, Canada, Europe | Available only where Apple chooses |
| 📊 India portal | 63+ firms joined voluntarily by August 2024 | No duty a buyer can cite |
| 🛠 Indian shops | Apple parts and manuals since March 2021 | Shops can buy what you cannot |
| ⏱ India's aim | Parts open to individuals, said July 2022 | A promise with no deadline |
Only the first row is a legal duty. Every other row depends on a company choosing to take part, which is exactly what a rule removes.
Every step since 2021 added a programme or a statement, and none created a right to buy a part. The sequence is our compilation of Apple's newsroom, TechCrunch and trade reports.
Worked example: an iPhone 18 Pro owner needs only a battery. Apple India charges ₹13,900 (reported 19 September 2026). Apple's US store charges $129 less a $61.92 old-battery credit (GSMArena, 20 October 2026), plus a $49 seven-day toolkit rental (MacRumors, October 2025), at ₹95 to the dollar, our assumption. So $129 minus $61.92 is $67.08, plus $49 is $116.08, times 95 is ₹11,028: a saving of ₹2,872. Add the screen in the same week (₹36,900 at Apple India per Trak.in; $329 less $16.45 abroad) and the kit is paid once, so the saving grows to ₹10,080. US prices exclude tax, duty and shipping.
What are the objections to a repair-access rule?
Three objections come up: low volume, safety and warranty, and each is answered by what Apple already does elsewhere, though the rule still needs limits because it guarantees access to parts, not a lower price.
Low volume is the weakest: Apple built a shop channel in India in 2021, so the supply chain exists. Safety is real for swollen batteries and argues for conditions. Apple's store credits the old battery, pulling used cells into a collection channel, and our call is that a law should require the same plus a manual that opens with the safety steps. Skip the manual and you get the alternative: an iPhone 13 owner on r/IndiaTech wrote in late 2025 that a local shop fitted an aftermarket battery for ₹3,000 and the phone then showed an Unknown Part message. One user's account, no survey.
Warranty is a drafting question: a rule can keep cover on the rest of the phone intact after a genuine-parts repair while excluding damage the repair caused. Makers can be bound on this front, as when several Gulf and Asian authorities made banks move logins off SMS codes.
Check this first: open Settings, Battery, Battery Health and read the capacity. Apple's India battery page, read on 31 October 2026, says a battery under 80% is replaced free with an Apple care plan.
- Parts access is not a price cap.
- A US price is a guide, not an Indian quote.
- Our view: publish part prices, do not cap them.
Conditions to check before you pay anyone
- A shop quotes far below Apple: ask if the part is genuine.
- Two repairs are queued: one rental covers both.
- The battery looks swollen: leave it to someone with the manual.
Decision: unless the Battery Health check shows your repair is free, pay Apple's fee for a phone you will keep and use a shop only for one you will soon replace, then write one line this week to the Department of Consumer Affairs, which runs the Right to Repair portal, asking for a legal duty on any phone seller in India to supply parts and manuals.
How we checked this
We read Apple's newsroom release of 26 June 2024, the India.gov.in portal page and the European Commission page, the last two read on 31 October 2026. Apple's live country list would not open, so the count rests on Apple's releases. The worked example assumes one battery at ₹95 to the dollar; it is our arithmetic. No product was tested hands-on for this article. Last verified: 31 October 2026. Edited by Sheftali, reviewed after publication. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
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