As many Apple customers have found, it’s been surprisingly easy to score a new iPhone off Apple. Simply take your slightly faulty iPhone to the Genius Bar, and you should get a new replacement on the spot. That may be about to change though. French news site iGeneration reports that in an attempt to cut down on iPhone replacements, Apple will offer an on-the-spot repair service for iPhones.
So instead of a new iPhone, you’ll get a repair carried out in under 30 minutes by a Genius in the store.
According to iGeneration:
With the iPhone 5, you can take apart the entire phone. A replacement will no longer be given unless there is a problem during the repair.
As far as the iPhone 4/4s goes, the most common faults (battery, buttons, vibration motor and modules) will also be able to be replaced without much problem.
This new policy should be coming to France in mid-April, and iGeneration says that some of its readers have been advised to make bookings now, in order to get a new replacement before the new policy comes into play.
It’s worth noting that Apple’s policy towards broken iPhone screens shouldn’t change, and that you’ll still have to pay.
This isn’t official, but it would make sense, and I would imagine that anything happening in France would also apply to the U.S., especially something like this.
