The new generation of iPhone smartphones 12 from Apple presents a new small obstacle to repair procedures that could severely restrict unauthorized third party support activities, through and a new procedure to be performed for the replacement of the camera modules.

It is no news that Apple designs its devices with restrictions on what it can or not be replaced by unauthorized technicians. With iPhone 12 Apple has enforced that following the replacement of the camera modules, proceed with a software authorization so that the phone can work correctly: in all previous iPhone generations it has always been possible to replace the camera without further steps. The new procedure has been discovered by some technicians who collaborate with iFixit, which also points out that statistically the camera and the display are two of the parts that most frequently require repair or replacement.

Software authorization or iPhone camera replacement 12 does not work

This software authorization can only be performed using an Apple proprietary app named System Configuration which is available, as you can easily guess, only for official repair centers such as Apple Store or authorized resellers for assistance procedures .

If the replacement is carried out without software authorization, the camera seems to work correctly when the phone is started, and then shows operational problems such as the inability to use the different lenses and even become completely useless. This behavior was initially considered a bug, but was later confirmed to be expected behavior within Apple’s official repair manual.

The software authorization procedure, however, is nothing totally new: it was previously required but only for those repairs that could go to compromise the safety of the device . It is also true that the camera is increasingly integrated with the SoC functions for computational photography and for this reason Apple wanted to take some additional precautions. However, there is the concern, raised by iFixit, that it is only a coercive measure to push users not to repair their devices or to go only to authorized centers.