Apple released iOS 11.3 at the end of March which removes touch functions in iPhone 8s repaired with some aftermarket screens that worked before the update. 

Aakshay Kripalani, CEO of Injured Gadgets, a Georgia-based retailer and repair shop said that means that people who broke their phone and dared to get it repaired by anyone other than Apple are having a hard time using their phone.

It also means that rather than blaming Apple and its booby-trapped iOS update,  customers are blaming the outside workshops and taking them back.

"This has caused my company over 2,000 reshipments. Customers are annoyed, and it seems like Apple is doing this to prevent customers from doing 3rd party repair", Kripalani said.

Those in the fix it community know what the problem is. Each iPhone screen has a chip which is causing the issue. For the past six months, shops have been able to replace busted iPhone 8 screens with no problem, but something in the update killed touch functionality.

Third party screen suppliers have already worked out the problem, but fixing the busted phones means re-opening up the phone and upgrading the chip.Even then Apple can release another update which borks the repairs.  Jobs' Mob can say that this is the user's problem for not using its overpriced genius bars.

It is not clear how Apple believes it can get away with it.  We suspect it is only a matter of time before a consumer organisation takes it to the cleaners. It must have had some interesting legal advice which suggests it can shut down competition in this way. While it might work in the US, we cant see them getting away with it in the old country.