Many of you have asked about the Coronavirus, how it is affecting us, and what it means for your business. It’s understandably a scary situation, but we are staying pragmatic in our approach to the issue. There are several factors at work and the information is constantly changing, so we are doing our best to make sure this impacts our customers as little as possible. That being said, we are expecting an impact in terms of delays and parts availability. 

The situation right now

The outbreak came just as China was preparing for its annual Lunar New Year celebration, which typically results in businesses closing for the holiday. During this time, workers typically return home, and exports cease for a period of about 2 weeks. Because of the outbreak however, China has had to extend the break- twice in fact.

Stock Up for the Lunar New Year with Behalf!

Happy New Year! ...or is it? While most of us are cruising into 2020, eagerly looking forward to the months ahead, there is another New Year celebration that has yet to happen- The Lunar New Year! If you are unfamiliar, Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the biggest holiday in Chinese culture. It’s such a big deal, that many businesses shut down for the duration of the holiday, which will be happening this year from January 25 to February 4.

Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei Commercial Area, during the Lunar New Year period. As workers return home for the holiday, factories and

UPDATE: UPS will NOT be servicing Ground shipments until January 2, 2020. If you need your packages immediately, please select an Air shipping option. Alternatively, you can select FedEx or USPS by indicating so in the comment field before checkout (additional charges may apply). For questions or concerns, please contact us at (424) 248-3896.

The holiday season is here! And while this is mostly a cheerful time of year, it’s also a BUSY time of year. This is especially true for our shipping carriers like UPS, Fedex and others. 

Please be aware that all of our carriers may experience shipping delays during the months of November and December, and ground shipping tiers will be suspending their service guarantee.

For this reason, we ask that you plan your orders accordingly and order early. 

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Last week we attended Mobile World Congress in Los Angeles. It had been a while since we were last at this event, so we felt the need to make an appearance again. These types of events allow us a unique opportunity to interact face-to-face with new and existing customers, and MWC is a good candidate, being one of the largest events in the mobile industry.

What you should know about in iOS 13

iOS 13 is officially out and it looks to be quite a big upgrade. There are so many features and changes that it would take a massive blog post to go over them all. Thankfully, MacRumors has already done that, so if that’s something you’re interested in, head over to their post. Instead, we will be going over some of the more “need-to-know” traits that are relevant to repair professionals. Quick note- if you come across someone who has yet to upgrade, try to discourage them from taking the leap just yet (more on this later in the article).

Better Support and Performance

The most crucial upgrade in iOS 13 is its focus on performance. Apple has made optimization and efficiency tweaks all over the OS, resulting in faster app-launching times, smaller app downloads and updates, and even quicker Face ID and Apple

Promotional images via Apple

iPhone 11 and Repair

Apple just unveiled their “new” (extensively leaked) iPhone series. For the most part, it seems like these models introduce minor upgrades to the previous two generations, most notably, the new triple-camera arrangement on the back of the two “Pro” models. All other phone-related announcements seem to have more to do with software, which is mostly good news for those of us in the repair industry (though we will have to wait for the actual release before we can say for sure).

That being said, things may not be entirely “business as usual”. We have a few “predictions” (speculations) about how these devices will affect the repair industry:

Expect to see more inexpensive repairs.

Apple is keeping

Image via Apple

Apple announced today that it will be launching an Independent Repair Provider (IRP) Program in order to offer customers “additional options for the most common out-of-warranty iPhone repairs.” Essentially, this will make genuine Apple parts, tools and resources available for purchase by qualified independent repair shops (following successful application to their free program). The only listed requirements are that the shop be a legitimate repair business in a commercially-zoned area, and that technicians be Apple-certified (certifications are offered online and test fees are waived for approved IRP businesses).

It goes without saying that this is BIG news- but whether or not it is good news remains to be seen. Personally,

Among the new outreach efforts by Maya, is an increased presence at trade shows and other industry events. One such event was the All Wireless & Prepaid Expo (AWPE) in Las Vegas, which took place on August 20 and 21. It was our first time attending this particular show, but we found it to be incredibly valuable for both vendors and attendees.

As most of you are aware, Apple does not look kindly on the independent repair industry. It has a fairly long history of being unfriendly to unauthorized repair- from the notorious Error 53, to the throttling issues on iPhone 6, all the way back to the very first iPhone with its choice of using a non-replaceable battery (a somewhat unusual feature for that time). Well, it looks like Apple is at it again. This time with an iOS 12 feature that disables XS, XR, and XS Max battery health data for any batteries that were not installed by Apple, or an Apple-authorized service provider.

So what does this mean for repairs?

As iFixit reports, this affects both original and aftermarket batteries, and Justin, from The Art of Repair YouTube channel, claims that this is due

Track Recycle and RMA Submissions with the “My Report” Feature!

Whether you are sending us items to recycle, or sending an occasional RMA return, you need a simple way to keep track of your submissions once they are out of your hands. That’s where our “My Reports” feature comes in! Located under the “My Account” drop-down menu, this feature displays all of your submissions and their respective statuses.

The reporting function is intuitive and easy to use. For a quick walk-through of the feature, see our video tour below.

There are two sections on the reports page: Testing Reports and RMA Reports.