Apple Screen Repairs: 400 Additional Third-Party Centers Open as New iPhones Release Later This Year
Apple will add as many as 400 new third-party repair centers that specialize on fixing iPhone screens later this year. This, some reports said, might also be a preparatory move as new iPhones are arriving as well.
With the aim of providing more convenience to their consumers who have suffered waiting in long lines to get their iPhones fixed, Apple has decided to add 400 authorized third-party service centers that can replace or fix broken iPhone screens.
The news was exclusively shared by Apple officials to Reuters and is considered a big change of perspective for Apple.
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To fix broken iPhone screens, Apple uses the "Horizon Machine" — something that the company has designed and have been quite secretive about.
It is considered the reason why broken iPhone screens cannot be serviced in third-party centers or in-mall Apple stores because the company did not want to risk exposing the design of the Horizon and how it works.
With very limited (and restricted) ways to fix iPhone screens, it used to take quite a long time for customers to have theirs repaired.
One factor that might have influenced this major business move is the New York-introduced bill called the Fair Repair Act. The legislation's summary says it "requires manufacturers of digital electronic parts to offer for sale diagnostic and repair information in the same manner as such manufacturer provides such diagnostic and repair information to such manufacturer's repair channel; section does not apply to motor vehicles."
Recently, Motherboard revealed that Apple, along with other major companies, have lobbied against the said bill. However, the iPhone maker denied that legislative pressure was the reason for the company's putting up 400 new screen service centers in and out of the U.S.
The company maintained that this move was something that has been in the pipeline and has started testing last year.
On the other hand, BGR raised the possibility that this was also a measure Apple deemed necessary in time for the release of the iPhone 8. The upcoming mobile is believed to sport an all-glass bodywork since an aluminum chassis is not conducive for wireless charging features.
Reuters added that one of the new service centers in the United States is at a Best Buy in Minneapolis. Another Best Buy in Sunnyvale, California, will also start fixing shattered iPhone screens soon. These are in addition to the Miami-based store that has already been repairing iPhone screens for some time now.
Outside the United States, Apple will add more iPhone screen repair centers to as many as 25 countries.
