Apple rolls out in-store iPhone 5 display replacement

Apple rolls out in-store iPhone 5 display replacement; could earn another $1 billion a year



Apple has begun replacing iPhone 5 screens at retail locations, according to MacRumors. This is all part of a shift the company has planned to get more users to come its way for repairs, which will allegedly net the company over $1 billion a year in additional revenue. The new display replacement service is being priced at $149 onwards (Rs 8,409 approx) and can be purchased with or without the AppleCare+. The AppleCare+ can be purchased at $99 (Rs 5,600 approx), with additional display repair costing users $49 (Rs 2,765 approx) each time they go to the store. According to sources, the change in policies came up first in May, where it was revealed that Apple was going to roll out its in-house display repair service in June. A forum post from iPhone repair site Quick iFix has since then confirmed this. According to the forum, the repairs extend to both cracked displays as well as displays which come with multitouch issues.

As noted in the forum, the competitive $149 price that Apple is charging has since caused the site to change the price at which it was fixing the iPhone. Earlier, Quick iFix was charging users $174.99 (Rs 9,876 approx) for a display replacement till early May, but has since been offering the same service for $139.99 (Rs 7,901 approx).



Other in-house repair options may be expected, with possible add-ons that make sense including repairs of the iPhone’s camera, sleep/wake button as well as logic boards. Additional changes to AppleCare will also make sense in the long run for the company.

All this seems credible because iPhone repair costs have always been high. According to MarketWatch, consumers have allegedly shelled out $6 billion for repair costs since the iPhone was released in 2007. In addition, the iPhone 5 has expensive parts that many independent repair sites cannot source. Other independent repair centres have been seen charging as much as $250 (Rs 14,110 approx) for repairs. And this is the crux of the issue. With Apple controlling the prices of components, it seems to be the user’s best bet to opt for the proposed AppleCare+ plan, which will set them back $99 (Rs 5,600 approx) a relatively lower cost when you look at it.
 
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