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Does apple make lot of money or loose lot of money on repairs? Or else they should let third party repairs.Typically for product companies it is better if they

Does apple make lot of money or loose lot of money on repairs? Or else they should let third party repairs.Typically for product companies it is better if they have ECO system of repairs/service by third party so that they them selves don't have to support for long which costs lot of money. Other than life safety devices others should allow customer who want to repair their product should be allowed.

rconti 11y ago
I made another comment, but screen+digitizer replacement for my 6 cost $105. Not bad at all IMO. The parts alone cost $100 online.
- ericabiz 11y ago
  The part cost wholesale (ordering 100+ of them at a time) is $74-$78 currently for a high quality LCD+digitizer for an iPhone 6. Note that Apple doesn't sell parts directly, and any third-party repair store that says differently is lying to you. There are, however, plenty of high-quality replacement parts available from other distributors.
seanp2k2 11y ago
Apple is great at manufacturing and logistics though, so the parts are probably pretty cheap for them even though they're also good quality (well, likely better than you'd find in the aftermarket or on eBay). The repairs they do are fairly simple, so combined with their ability to control the experience and make sure it doesn't suck for consumers helping their brand, it's another revenue channel for them. Edit: even if they're losing money on every repair, it might be worth it to them to give people the peace of mind of knowing that they can "take it back to where they got it" to have it fixed if anything bad happens. That's not a common thing with electronics these days.
cooper12 11y ago
Repairs are part of the Apple ecosystem, hence the whole "Genius Bar" thing. Apple wants to control the whole experience from purchase onwards. And let me tell you, they treat you very well. When I was under warranty they always tracked down my issue and even found things I didn't notice like my trackpad going bad. Apple does have licensed third party repairers. People also use unlicensed repairers and repair their own devices all the time such as with screens. The situation here was that unlicensed parts were a security risk and their factory tests were left in which bricked the devices. Now TouchID is just disabled.
- ericabiz 11y ago
  > Apple does have licensed third party repairers. This is a common misconception. Apple DOES license repair shops for Mac repairs. However, those licensed shops cannot do iPhone screen repairs, per their agreement with Apple. Apple doesn't have any way to get licensed for iPhone screen repairs--nor do they sell "official" Apple parts. Hence, the huge third-party repair industry that has popped up, complete with distributors offering high-quality screen/digitizer replacements and stores that will replace screens.
  - cooper12 11y ago
    Ah, thank you for clearing that up. What are they allowed to do then? Just software issues?
    - ericabiz 11y ago
      I haven't seen the precise wording of the agreement, but I have talked to multiple "authorized repair center" owners, and my understanding is that they can only replace batteries on iPhones, and even then they must submit the serial number of the phone to Apple and wait for Apple to ship them a battery. That's an awful deal compared to third party repair centers, which can stock batteries, replace them quickly, and warranty the batteries themselves if a customer has issues. As far as software issues go, we really only get two of them at our store: either someone is out of space on their phone, or their phone won't install the latest iOS update. (We got a million of the latter when iOS 9 came out.) There's not much money to be made with either of those two issues, and they're both relatively rare compared to broken screens, so even if they are allowed to fix software issues, it's certainly not a money maker for them. Unfortunately for these businesses, being an authorized Apple repair center doesn't exactly bring in the big bucks these days. Strange that Apple won't do an entire program for screen repairs--it'd certainly make them a killing to do so--but it's their prerogative, I suppose.
rasz_pl 11y ago
Apple actively fights with 3rd party repair services. At the same time there is a huge list of things that make you lose coverage. From famous Pink Dot moisture indicator (changing color due to sweat/climate) to scratched laptop lids. What better way to make money than forcing your user to upgrade every time product dies?

rconti 11y ago

I made another comment, but screen+digitizer replacement for my 6 cost $105. Not bad at all IMO. The parts alone cost $100 online.

ericabiz 11y ago
The part cost wholesale (ordering 100+ of them at a time) is $74-$78 currently for a high quality LCD+digitizer for an iPhone 6. Note that Apple doesn't sell parts directly, and any third-party repair store that says differently is lying to you. There are, however, plenty of high-quality replacement parts available from other distributors.

seanp2k2 11y ago

Apple is great at manufacturing and logistics though, so the parts are probably pretty cheap for them even though they're also good quality (well, likely better than you'd find in the aftermarket or on eBay). The repairs they do are fairly simple, so combined with their ability to control the experience and make sure it doesn't suck for consumers helping their brand, it's another revenue channel for them. Edit: even if they're losing money on every repair, it might be worth it to them to give people the peace of mind of knowing that they can "take it back to where they got it" to have it fixed if anything bad happens. That's not a common thing with electronics these days.

cooper12 11y ago

Repairs are part of the Apple ecosystem, hence the whole "Genius Bar" thing. Apple wants to control the whole experience from purchase onwards. And let me tell you, they treat you very well. When I was under warranty they always tracked down my issue and even found things I didn't notice like my trackpad going bad. Apple does have licensed third party repairers. People also use unlicensed repairers and repair their own devices all the time such as with screens. The situation here was that unlicensed parts were a security risk and their factory tests were left in which bricked the devices. Now TouchID is just disabled.

ericabiz 11y ago
> Apple does have licensed third party repairers. This is a common misconception. Apple DOES license repair shops for Mac repairs. However, those licensed shops cannot do iPhone screen repairs, per their agreement with Apple. Apple doesn't have any way to get licensed for iPhone screen repairs--nor do they sell "official" Apple parts. Hence, the huge third-party repair industry that has popped up, complete with distributors offering high-quality screen/digitizer replacements and stores that will replace screens.
- cooper12 11y ago
  Ah, thank you for clearing that up. What are they allowed to do then? Just software issues?
  - ericabiz 11y ago
    I haven't seen the precise wording of the agreement, but I have talked to multiple "authorized repair center" owners, and my understanding is that they can only replace batteries on iPhones, and even then they must submit the serial number of the phone to Apple and wait for Apple to ship them a battery. That's an awful deal compared to third party repair centers, which can stock batteries, replace them quickly, and warranty the batteries themselves if a customer has issues. As far as software issues go, we really only get two of them at our store: either someone is out of space on their phone, or their phone won't install the latest iOS update. (We got a million of the latter when iOS 9 came out.) There's not much money to be made with either of those two issues, and they're both relatively rare compared to broken screens, so even if they are allowed to fix software issues, it's certainly not a money maker for them. Unfortunately for these businesses, being an authorized Apple repair center doesn't exactly bring in the big bucks these days. Strange that Apple won't do an entire program for screen repairs--it'd certainly make them a killing to do so--but it's their prerogative, I suppose.

rasz_pl 11y ago

Apple actively fights with 3rd party repair services. At the same time there is a huge list of things that make you lose coverage. From famous Pink Dot moisture indicator (changing color due to sweat/climate) to scratched laptop lids. What better way to make money than forcing your user to upgrade every time product dies?