Apple's iPhone 5
Inspired by Independence Day in the US, tech repairs website iFixit has set upon a mission to liberate all iPhones from their tricky pentalobe screws, which make them impossible to open without specialist tools.
Pentalobe screws are used at the base of newer iPhones (generally, iPhone 4 and beyond) and require a special screwdriver to open. To liberate these ‘oppressed’ devices, iFixit created the iPhone Liberation Kit, which contains both a pentalobe and Phillips screwdriver and two replacement standard Phillips screws.
Liberation Week kicked off Monday, 1 July, when iFixit released 1,776 sets of two iPhone Liberation Kits completely free (including delivery) to the first-comers. All 3,552 free kits sold out in just 16 minutes, but iFixit’s liberation movement will not stop there.
Determined to see as many iPhone pentalobe screws replaced with standard Philips screws as they can muster, the site has made its entire remaining stock of iPhone Liberation Kits available for free, charging only for delivery, until 5 July. For customers based in Ireland, this works out at US$10 with USPS First-Class Mail.
Image via iFixit
The purpose of the campaign is to make iPhones accessible to both their owners and those who may be called on to repair them.
Two kits are offered with every purchase in the spirit of spreading the liberation movement to others.
