Repairing your iPhone yourself with parts ordered on the Internet, dropping off your iPhone in a repair center, sending it back to Apple or renting Apple’s repair kit, which system is the most advantageous financially speaking for the customer?
Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past few months, you know that Apple has broken with its own policy by now offering its customers to repair the screen themselves. of their iPhone or to replace the battery. To do this, Apple has rolled out a brand new service, le Self Service Repair. Interested customers fill in the details of their iPhone (the only products currently concerned) then can order the new part and an optional replacement kit.
For now, the service can replace several elements of the iPhone, such as its camera, its screen or its battery, and is only available in the United States. A launch in Europe is planned for the end of the year.
But as it stands, is the service interesting for the average consumer, knowing that it is necessary, at least, to have some notions of smartphone repair, and this, despite the present manual? Is returning your iPhone directly to Apple or going through an authorized repairer not more advantageous?
For our example, we will take the case of a cracked iPhone 12 Pro screen, whose phone is no longer under warranty. You have to repair it, but you have only very slight notions of repair, the only screen you repaired was 15 years ago, that of a Nokia 3310 (yes yes, it’s possible ).
Several possibilities are then available to you. The first, and easiest, is to go to an authorized repairer, who has Apple-certified, compliant parts that won’t void your iPhone’s warranty. In Belgium, the best known Premium Resellers and authorized repairers are Lab9, Coolblue and Arc/Abyss Computer. The prices are respectively 359€, 339€ and 344€. Count more or less 2 hours of repair if you make an appointment with Arc and Lab9, while, in deposit, it will take between 3 and 10 days with the latter.
Going directly through Apple costs +/- €310
It is also possible to go to an Apple store, where the price will be estimated at around €310 and will require a waiting time of 6 to 8 days. The price and time are exactly the same if you decide to send your iPhone to Apple, who will then send you a box allowing you to send your iPhone to the factory for free. Here too, you are sure to be dealing with quality work and will have nothing to do except wait patiently for your precious item to be returned to you.
Finally, let’s imagine that you are a bit reckless, that getting your hands dirty does not scare you and that repairing your iPhone yourself is not a problem. Then order a screen and install it yourself. In this case, the price is drastically lower, but the quality also differs.
There are many ways to buy a new screen on the web, but do so at your own risk. For example, you can risk buying a screen from Amazon, preferably favoring a well-known brand, with prices ranging between 60€ and 90€.
Avoid sites like Wish or AliExpress at all costs, the quality of the screen will most likely not be there and you might very quickly encounter problems and damage your entire iPhone. Now reliable and reputable sites like iFixit also offer screens, at a price of 199€, as well as a tutorial and kits to proceed with the replacement.
Adopter le Self Service Repair
Finally, the last solution and the one that interests us the most today is to call on Apple’s Self Service Repair launched this Thursday in the United States. The prices displayed are in dollars, so we will make the conversion.
Count $269.95 (€257.07) by buying your iPhone 12 Pro screen from Apple. Also included are new adhesives and gaskets, new pentalobe screws and a repair manual. Here, unlike iFixit, Amazon and others, you are sure to buy Apple certified items, which meet Apple’s requirements. However, you pay full price, with a screen that is €50 more expensive than the competition.
However, you are certain to come out with an iPhone that remains under warranty in the event that it is, and with quality parts. But it’s not Apple who wants, it is still “more than advisable” to buy or rent some rather expensive tools if you want to follow the Apple manual to the letter.
A screen press (€205), a battery press (€109), a 6.1″ repair plate (€102) or a heated screen removal device (€243), as many accessories and tools offering quality repair, used by professionals”to deliver the same performance as the industrial machines used to manufacture Apple products.” If you want to buy them all, know that you will need at least €800 for the complete kit, to which are added, of course, the €257 for the screen.
Fortunately, Apple allows you to rent the kit including all of these accessories for $49 (€46), which can be kept for 7 days and then must be returned to Apple free of charge.
It is obviously not mandatory to rent or buy these accessories to replace the screen of your iPhone. You are free to buy the battery made in Apple in Self Service Repair and then follow a separate tutorial.
On the other hand, where Apple pulls out of the game is in recycling the old part of your iPhone. As mentioned above, buying your new iPhone 12 Pro screen from Apple will cost you more or less €257.07. But if you return your old screen to Apple, it will give you a credit on your purchase and deduct it on the final invoice. In our example, the credit is €33.60, which lowers the price of your screen to €225.07. The price is now more advantageous!
So why do you have to crack?
After having presented and analyzed all the options available to us, it is now time to choose. If your iPhone is still under warranty, but you’re not comfortable repairing it yourself, go through an authorized repair person or Apple directly. The price will most certainly exceed the 300€ mark, but you will at least be certain that the work is of high quality and that the guarantee for your device will not be breached.
If the warranty is no longer valid, go through an unauthorized repairer. They are usually trained in this kind of exercise, go quite fast and will cost you less.
However, if you’re good with your hands and are ready to repair your iPhone yourself, order your parts directly from Apple. These will comply with EU and Apple standards, they will ensure you have an optimal experience and the guarantee will remain valid. On the other hand, if your iPhone is no longer under warranty, do not hesitate to buy parts not certified by Apple, but much cheaper.
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