It seems that Apple is looking to multiple manufacturers for the same sub-assemblies, in this case, a Mac Mini power supply.
Ah, more fabricated surprise/outrage by people who are either woefully ignorant of the industry, or who want to create drama where none existed.
There is nothing even remotely new, unique, or even vaguely noteworthy about this. Apple does not make its own power supplies, but rather has them custom made by suppliers. Over the years, I’ve seen Apple power supplies (both internal and external) built by Delta Electronics, Flextronics, Lite-On, TDK-Lambda, Emerson, ASTEC, Dyna Comp and probably others I’ve forgotten or never saw. They’ve been outsourcing power supplies since at least the late 80s. It’s absolutely normal for a particular Apple product to have multiple power supply suppliers. Sometimes the various supplies share part numbers, sometimes they don’t (even if the specs are the same). Indeed, this is the case with many components, not just PSUs. Apple’s sheer scale practically dictates that multiple sourcing will be needed due to volume, not to mention that it’s just plain smart to not rely on a single supplier for any component. It would be negligent
not to wherever possible!
Nor is this in any way unique to Apple: the HP laptop I got late last year came with two power supplies (one barrel jack, one with captive USB-C cord). The bricks themselves have identical enclosures, but one is made by Delta, the other by Lite-On.
Disclaimer: I worked in sales at Apple Retail in the past, as well as having worked at both independent service providers and Apple Authorized Service Providers doing Mac support and repairs.
If you take it into an Apple store you will find they will try to get you to junk it, if its old. They manage to convince a lot of people the cost to repair would be prohibitive but thats often not true.
Apple is free to set its own prices, policies, and what I’ll call the “menu” of services it chooses to offer (or not offer). If an employee tells you they can’t repair it at a cost that makes economic sense, it’s true, in the sense that a cheaper repair isn’t something the company offers. The front-line employee can’t just invent new services and pricing, after all. From experience on both ends of this, it’s not uncommon for Apple Store employees to suggest to a customer that a third party might be able to provide a repair or upgrade that the Apple Store won’t do, or can’t do economically.
Don't let them take it, you'll never get it back often if they do.
Like SpacedCowboy, unless there’s some wild misunderstanding about what you’re claiming, I call total bull on this. Apple is meticulous about paper trails. They certainly aren’t going to steal customer product. (What use would they have for broken product anyway? Heck, even disposing of
working product that was abandoned by the customer is an arduous process.)
I would be very surprised if any equipment you give them to repair never gets returned. I think there'd be an almighty outcry if this was the case, given the outrage expressed whenever anyone gets to legitimately complain about an Apple policy - Apple drives clicks to webpages, and almost any issue-of-the-day seems to get outsize coverage...
Precisely. Fabricated outrage over complete non-things. It’s like the DHMO hoax.
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