That has to be illegal in some countries due to right to repair laws right?
I’m a certified apple repair tech and there’s so much bullshit that purposely doesn’t work until we run some arbitrary software on it. So many times where I thought I’ve installed something incorrectly because the touch screen will stop working, or vibration will stop working until you plug it into their network.
I feel like the more likely scenario here is that the third party screens have a cheaper/worse digitizer for the pencil so it just doesn’t track as precisely. I’ve replaced several of my own screens on iPads and iPhones and, unless you pay for an OEM screen from an otherwise dead device, third-party screens are almost always cheaper and less responsive than the original screens on these devices. Why would Apple only do this for diagonal lines instead of just disabling pencil support for third-party screens altogether?
Someone in the HN thread linked to a reddit thread where an ex Apple tech claimed this issue could happen with even just changing the serial number of the screen. He also claims to run a repair shop now.
Of course this is like 5 levels removed from a source so pile of salt.
I don’t think the serial or any of that matters. What matters would be the calibration. Even if it was an original Apple screen, it would still need to be recalibrated when moved to a new device.