Good news, iPhone owners. Apple is no longer punishing you for having butterfingers … any more than it already does by having such a crack-able glass screen on its phone. In an about face on its longstanding policy, Apple has sent a memo around to its retail employees noting that a customer who has their device screen repaired by a third party does not void his or her warranty. The memo, obtained by 9to5Mac, notes that while Apple employees ought to still inspect the device for red flags like fraud or tampering, they no longer have to turn customers away if they’ve previously received a fix from someone other than an authorized Apple source.
The memo reads, “For Apple products under warranty, with a third-party display: When the customer reports a functional failure (unrelated to a display repair), quote warranty service to replace that component.” Keep in mind, however, that if your display is the issue, then you’ll still have to pay the out-of-warranty price.
And if the problem is related to the third-party display, you’re even more out of luck — you’ll have to pay the out-of-warranty price for the repair or forfeit your Apple repair rights altogether. The same thing applies if you decide that you don’t like your third-party display and want an official Apple part instead — you’ll have to pay the out-of-warranty price.
Still, this is a significant improvement over Apple’s previous stance. Before this policy change, if you had a third-party display, your iPhone warranty would be considered null and void, and you wouldn’t be able to get any sort of warranty-covered repairs on your device. So even with these various restrictions and considerable fine print, you’re still getting a lot more than you might’ve in years past. The changes seem to apply to customers in the U.S. and Canada, as well as some other countries around the world.
