iPhone users who have sought repairs by third party repair firms have traditionally voided the warranty on their iPhones as a result. However, Apple has recently altered this position to reflect the ever growing number of repairs conducted by third-party professionals.
Apple store technicians are now being told that as long as the casing and related components are not damaged, Apple will honor the standard warranty following a third party repair providing that the issue doesn’t relate to the display.
iPhones covered under Apple’s one-year or extended care plans with third-party displays can be repaired, but there are strict guidelines. The warranty repair can’t be related to the third party repair. If that’s the case, the technicians have been instructed to offer the out-of-warranty price to replace the bad part, or the entire phone, if that’s what it takes to fix it.
While this seems like a strict set of conditions, it’s actually reasonable, since a customer can have Screen Repair Plus fix their screen if it gets broken at the gym, yet, Apple will now honor their end if a warranty-related issue comes up down the line,
If a customer wants to change their screen from a third-party screen to an Apple screen, however, the Apple tech is supposed to offer that service at the out of warranty price. Depending on which iPhone it is, this could prove to be an expensive option.
Since the screen is often the repair problem third party techs handle, and since Apple is currently grappling with the 30% bug, this may be their way of keeping in good graces with the majority of their users. This, since there are massive numbers of users who have allowed their shattered screen to be repaired by a third party repair companies.
Previously, home button replacements conducted by third party techs would cause the iPhone 6 to display the ‘Error 53’ message at the time the customer installed a regular software update. Error 53 renders and iPhone 6 useless. There is no repair for it. This deliberate sabotage was designed as a security feature for the fingerprint security feature (shown as ‘tampered with’ even if the owner authorized it) to keep out unauthorized users. Hundreds of thousands of iPhone 6’s (Read, ‘a small minority’ in Apple’s eyes) were affected by this.
AKA -- 'The True Death'
As Apple technology advances, the rules of warranty and repair will become clearer. We understand the customer’s need for fast, dependable, economically realistic repairs. At the same time, we also understand Apple’s position, since they sure don’t want to have to clean up someone’s tech mess.
This new ruling comes as a welcome change in Apple’s warranty policies, and will, perhaps, evolve into the opportunity for third party repair techs and Apple techs to work together for the benefit of the customer.
Talk on.
