Whether they’re dropped, squashed, smashed or outright trashed, many users find Apple’s sleek, delicate screens are prone to cracking. While Apple can’t do much to help you prevent dropping your iPhone, the company has made it easier to get the screen replaced. Apple blog The Loop confirmed that Apple is now fixing iPhone screens in retail locations.
The service is available for all three versions of the iPhone, the blog reported, although due to the manufacturing process involved in making the iPod touch, Apple retail representatives won’t be able to fix a cracked screen on it. “If your phone is under warranty and the screen needs to be replaced due to a defect with the device, there is no cost to have the screen replaced at a retail store,” wrote The Loop blogger Jim Dalrymple. “However, if it’s not a warranty issue, the cost of having the screen replaced is $199.”
For iPhone users out there who want to take the DIY approach to screen repair, there are options out there as well-but keep in mind Apple’s iPhone limited warranty “excludes coverage for damage resulting from accident, disassembly, unauthorized service and unauthorized modifications.”
Apple blog Tidbits posted an article explaining how to replace a cracked iPhone screen for around $80 by using a Mission Repair iPhone 3G Digitizer and Front Glass with Adhesive Kit and an AX Micro Solutions case opener tool. Mission Repair, a certified Macintosh tech shop, is also offering iPhone screen repair service for $119. The company said it can repair the screen in 24 hours, and each repair comes with a one-year warranty. “Our process provides full coverage of the contact points on your internal iPhone 3G frame, which is critical to ensure a long lasting, flush-mounted repair,” the company notes on its Website.
Apple’s ability to fix iPhone screens in its retail stores (by using a large suction cuplike machine) comes at a time when Apple is continuing, and expanding, its dominance of the fiercely competitive smartphone market. Despite the arrival of competitors from Nokia, Palm and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry devices, Apple has managed to stay ahead of the competition. An internal memo from exclusive iPhone carrier AT&T said the launch day of the iPhone 3GS, the latest edition of the smartphone, was AT&T’s best sales day ever.
On June 22, Apple announced that in the three days after the iPhone 3GS launched, it has sold over 1 million models, and reported 6 million customers have downloaded the new iPhone 3.0 software in the first five days since its release. The highly anticipated iPhone 3GS, which was launched at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, offers new features such as long-awaited cut, copy and paste capability; MMS; Spotlight Search; and a landscape keyboard function.