Apple just made a major change to its standard warranty terms for the iPhone and Apple Watch. Going forward, the company will no longer cover a single hairline crack under its warranty.
Instead, users must pay for the repair or claim accidental damage under their AppleCare plan.
Pay up for hairline crack repairs on your iPhone or Apple Watch
Apple’s standard one-year warranty does not cover physical damage. However, in the United States, the company previously made an exception for repairing a hairline display crack on an iPhone or Apple Watch, provided there was no other damage to the device.
Starting this week, Apple is changing its stance. 9to5Mac reports that Apple informed Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers that the standard device warranty no longer covers hairline cracks. Going forward, they should process all such claims as “accidental damage.”
If you have AppleCare+ coverage, you will need to pay $29 for an iPhone screen replacement. And if you don’t pay for AppleCare+ coverage, you must shell out anywhere between $199 to $329 for the repair, depending on your device. You always have the option of repairing your iPhone on your own after sourcing the necessary parts from Apple.
New policy does not apply to iPad and Mac
Apple reportedly only changed this policy for the iPhone and Apple Watch. Its standard warranty still covers hairline display crack repairs for iPads and Macs.
It’s unclear why Apple altered its policy regarding hairline crack repairs. Still, this should not matter in most cases. The policy was not implemented uniformly by Apple Stores and authorized service providers.
Users were always at the mercy of the service provider to decide if they would process a hairline crack repair under the standard warranty or accidental damage. And outside the United States, even hairline cracks are considered physical damage and out of the bounds of the standard device warranty.
