The mechanism: Since 2024, California and Minnesota have required manufacturers to make parts, tools, and repair documentation available to consumers and independent shops. Oregon went further, becoming the first state to ban "parts pairing" — the practice of serializing a component to a device's serial number so a replaced screen, battery, or camera loses functionality unless Apple's own software authorizes it. Colorado's parts-pairing restriction lands in 2026. Layer on the FTC's 2021 "Nixing the Fix" policy statement, which revived Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act Section 2302(c) — the anti-tying rule barring companies from voiding warranties over third-party parts or independent repair — and consent orders against Harley-Davidson and Weber-Stephen show the agency will actually litigate this. Apple lobbied hard against the Oregon and Colorado pairing bans and lost. The company's response wasn't retreat — it was monetization. Apple has spun up a genuine-parts storefront, priced at the same rate it charges its own authorized service centers, and is now extending it across new Macs, iPads, and displays. What was framed as a regulatory concession is becoming a recurring, high-margin transaction sitting inside Services — the segment Wall Street already prizes for its 70%-plus gross margins.
Who cashes in: