Apple has made some changes to how under-warranty repairs work for the iPhone and Apple Watch. The company won"t repair single hairline cracks on the display under warranty, 9to5Mac reports citing multiple sources.
As per the publication, Apple communicated its updated policy to Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers, which requires them to process instances of single hairline cracks as accidental damage claims.
This is in contrast with what Apple has allowed until now. Apple"s policy covered instances of single hairline crack damage under standard warranty, as long as there was no clear point of impact that caused the crack or other visible damage to the device. In other words, users will have to pay for the repair if they spot a single hairline display crack on their new iPhone, even if there"s no other damage.
Apple has a price calculator tool on its website that gives estimates on the screen repair costs depending on the model and whether the user purchased AppleCare+. While different service providers can set their own fees, the screen repair fee per incident will remain the same if the user has AppleCare+, the company says.
According to its website, AppleCare+ covers "unlimited incidents of accidental damage" for the screen and other parts. However, the company charges a service fee for each incident depending on whether the damage has occurred to the screen or some other hardware component covered under the upgraded warranty service.
Time and again, Apple has made changes to its repair policy; for instance, it notified Apple Stores and authorized service providers to stop repairing iPhones marked as lost/stolen or if the customer can"t disable Find My service. It"s not known why Apple made the latest change to its policy. However, the publication notes that under warranty, repairs for single hairline cracks are still available for iPads and Macs.