Apple Announces Self Service Repair Starting With iPhone 12 and iPhone 13
In November 2021 Apple announced their decision to let the customer do their own repairs. That was kind of a controversial but also a doable thing. Apple has now successfully put their decision into action. The Self-Service Repair facility is now available for Apple device users.
With this Self-Service Repair option, whoever uses Apple iPhone 12 versions / 13 versions and 3rd generation SE versions can easily repair or replace parts of their mobiles at home, in the future the list will be extended for sure. That sounds nice but is it actually nice like it seems? The answer is bit complicated.
First of all you cannot do every repair using this service but the most common ones only. The main intention of this facility is to help the customers with some technical (hardware) experience and practice to repair their own devices without bothering to visit a repair shop. It is recommended for majority of the users to visit a authorized service center in order to repair their devices, otherwise they will be ruining their phones using their own money and own hands.
For those who like to take things to their own control can simply visit the Self-Service Repair Store website and carefully review the Apple Repair Manual, each device has their own manual. In this store, customers will have the ability to browse through over 200 individual repair parts and tools. As I’ve mentioned before, as the beginning this service is only valid for Apple iPhone 12s, 13s and 3rd Gen SEs. The repair types vary from Battery, Bottom Speaker, Camera, Display, Sim Tray to Taptic Engine. Apple has stated that they are willing to expand their supported device list (even for laptops) and the repair types in the future, it will take time, but it will definitely happen. All the parts you order from here are completely genuine and of course expensive.
When you select what you need from the Repair Store, you can place the order. That is when you are going to see the massive deposit that you have to make to Apple because they want to ensure they are getting their repair kit back. Currently that refundable deposit is 1100$. It should be now clear how this works, you get the repair parts plus the giant toolkit (which has wheels), you somehow manage to repair your phone and again you should ship back the toolkit to Apple (or you are losing more than one grand). It is an extensive, demotivating, and exhausting process, even though Apple doesn’t take shipping cost from you this still feels like a heavy burden.
Apple devices come with their Apple Care warranty, that means you are entitled to get certain repairs from Apple if the warranty is still valid. If the warranty is voided somehow you are going to have to pay a fair price to get the repair done. But still, taking your phone to a Repair Center and paying a small fee if necessary is still lot cheaper and effective than using this Self-Service Repair.
There is another option! You can select the necessary parts from the Service Store excluding the toolkit and have them delivered to you so you can visit a certified repair shop you know and ask them to do the repairing using the parts you provide. In that way you can make sure they use the authentic Apple parts to repair your phone. It could be still little bit expensive but a good way to put this service into use.
Some people can say Apple did this for their customers, but some can say Apple are just finding ways to earn more money.
Hope this article was helpful for you in some way. Just leave a comment if you have to add anything more to this article or for us, we will look forward to it.
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