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I run a repair shop. We've repaired over 3,000 Apple devices for customers. We are always chatting with our customers, so we get a ton of feedback from them abo

I run a repair shop. We've repaired over 3,000 Apple devices for customers. We are always chatting with our customers, so we get a ton of feedback from them about what they're doing with their phones. We hear a few things consistently: 1) Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save the $30 a month than upgrade their phone. This started with T-Mobile a few years ago and now is how most phone plans work. This is having a huge impact on people's desire to buy new phones. 2) iPhone 5/5C/5S users have no desire to upgrade to a larger phone. The SE is going to solve some of this, but it'll more likely be a scenario of "I dropped my 5S in the toilet and it's completely dead, so I'll upgrade to a SE instead of dealing with the hassle of finding a legit used 5S." I don't expect to see a huge push toward the SE from current iPhone 5 users. 3) Repairs are so cheap, so easy and so effective. It's $79 for us to fix an iPhone 5/5C/5S screen right now, and we can fix it in less than 30 minutes typically. No reason to upgrade when your old one works just fine and you can get it fixed cheaply. Interestingly, the SE screen is 1:1 compatible with the 5S screen, so the SE is coming out of the gate being cheap and easy to repair as well. I'm typically recommending the SE if people really want a new phone. We also ask customers about 3D Touch (the new feature on the 6S/6S+) and if they're using it if they have a 6S. 99% of people have no idea what it is or how to use it. They bought a 6S/6S+ because it was pink. Yep, most of the 6S phones we see are rose gold, and that seems to be the #1 factor driving sales of that line. If they don't care about the pink and ask me what phone I recommend, I recommend buying a refurbished 6 over any of the 6S line. (We don't sell phones, so I have no horse in that race at all.)

johansch 10y ago
(Lots of interesting data; upvoted.) > It's $79 for us to fix an iPhone 5/5C/5S screen right now Interesting, since I have a 5s with a broken screen glass that I haven't bothered getting fixed yet. :) It used to be quite a bit more, I think? Have you figured out how to separate the glass (etc) from the actual display, or have replacement display+glass packages just gotten cheaper? (If you are replacing the display - is there any significant performance difference between the stock display and the replacement display?)
- ericabiz 10y ago
  All depends on the cost of parts. Part cost is very low right now...I advise people to get it fixed ASAP if they have the money! You never know what it will do--part cost bounces around like the stock market. Last year it bounced really high there for a bit, and now it's come back down. The backlight, LCD, digitizer (touch "web"), and top glass are all one piece. They come bonded from the factory. I never recommend glass-only repairs, and they're nearly impossible to do yourself. Some shops will do them, but realistically, with the 5 series screen cost so low right now, there's no reason to risk digitizer issues with a glass-only repair. (It's very difficult to replace only the glass without breaking the delicate digitizer "web" right below it.) From what we can tell, there is very little difference between an OEM display and the ones repair shops sell. The 6 model is slightly thicker. On a 5, you probably won't notice it. It is all about the warranty if you choose to get it replaced from a shop--some percentage of the screens are just going to have issues, and you want a shop that stands behind their work. (No repair shop warranty will cover if you drop or break the screen, though!)
  - revelation 10y ago
    Where do you source parts from? Does Apple sell these like a car manufacturer would? The whole electronics repair business seems rather immature and shady compared to something like car repair. For a car make, you can easily get the software manufacturers give to repair shops which has all sorts of exploded assembly views, instructions and part lists.
    - ericabiz 10y ago
      No, Apple doesn't sell parts, though it would be nice if they did. The main way screens appear in the repair business is from companies in China that buy back screens with broken glass but functional LCD. They then replace the glass with new glass. Most of the screen is OEM, but not the top glass. They then ship these to repair shops and distributors, who use them to replace screens. That's why I mentioned in a previous comment that it's all about the warranty with a repair shop. No shop will warranty a cracked or broken screen, but most decent shops will warranty digitizer (touch) issues as long as there's no physical damage to the screen. That type of warranty is a must-have--there are only a small percentage of screens that go bad after a few days or weeks of use, but it really sucks if you get one and the shop refuses to replace it. > The whole electronics repair business seems rather immature and shady compared to something like car repair. Well, both are shady (plenty of YouTube exposes on oil change places that upsell services, charge for them, and don't perform them.) Honestly, one of the reasons I came into this industry was I was aware of the huge need for a non-shady repair shop in Austin, TX (where I live.) We're the highest-rated independent repair shop in Austin, and we take that pretty seriously, since there are so many horror stories of bad computer/game console/phone repair shops out there. We do our best to do right by our customers.
overcast 10y ago
3D Force Touch was one of those features I feel would have only caught on, if it was one of the original iPhone features. Tacking it on later, with little to no support in apps, makes it forgetware. I actually really like the functionality, and I completely forget it exists. There needs to be some type of small indicator reminder that a button HAS 3D touch.
- rqebmm 10y ago
  To me its real problem is that it's almost indistinct from long-press. Combine that with Apple's poor UX discoverability (I'm looking at you, swipe-from-the-side-to-see-iMessage-timestamps!) and 3D Touch is basically useless.
  - k-mcgrady 10y ago
    >> "To me its real problem is that it's almost indistinct from long-press." Are you saying this as someone who actually uses the feature? Because in my experience a long press and 3D are very distinct. In fact 3D touch makes it quite difficult to long press on home screen icons to delete them.
    - rqebmm 10y ago
      I meant as a UX design pattern.
      - k-mcgrady 10y ago
        Ah ok I understand. That's true.
  - dandelany 10y ago
    Yeah, Force Touch has really compounded their problems of overloaded and undiscoverable UX. I realized this recently when trying to tell a family member how to rearrange their home screen icons. It used to be "hold down an icon until it wiggles, then drag it". Now it's "hold down an icon, but not too hard, until it starts wiggling. What do you mean there's a popup?! Oh you pressed too hard. Tap somewhere else to close the popup and try holding down an icon again."
r00fus 10y ago
I think the reason most 6S's are rose gold is that it's the new latest color - i.e. you want the latest, and also to message that to everyone else? Get a rose-gold phone. Also, considering probably the vast majority of servicing of iPhones happens at an Apple genius bar, I'd say your (very informative) views of the population have some selection bias.
- benologist 10y ago
  There are still states in the US that don't have a single Apple store, lots with very few. Then there are ~180 countries with none and a handful of countries with very few. iPhone 6S is officially available in over 130 countries. http://www.cultofmac.com/278978/apple-stores-usa/ http://www.cultofmac.com/278978/apple-stores-usa/ Repairs are probably orders of magnitude more common outside of Apple stores.
- CamperBob2 10y ago
  Also, considering probably the vast majority of servicing of iPhones happens at an Apple genius bar That may not be the case for display replacements. From what I've seen, the Geniuses won't attempt to replace a screen if the phone's chassis is even slightly deformed. But the local fixit shops will. The question then becomes, "How random is the subset of people who get thrown out of the Genius Bar for screwing up their phone really badly?" The wealthiest of those will just buy a new phone, so that's one potential source of bias, I suppose.
- Spooky23 10y ago
  Pink (aka "rose gold") appeals to many women. It also differentiates from the sea of space grey devices.
- zippergz 10y ago
  I'd also wonder if there's something that skews more people who have rose gold phones to break them? Maybe they're less likely to use a case because they want to show off the color? Or maybe rose gold skews younger (and therefore possibly less responsible with electronics)? Total guesses, but I'm pretty confident that rose gold is not the best selling color of iPhone currently, so it seems like something else must be going on.
the_mitsuhiko 10y ago
Anecdotal evidence also suggests that people like the 6 more than the 6S. It's nicer to hold in hands and it's quite a bit cheaper for basically the same phone.
- berberous 10y ago
  Nicer to hold in hands? It's the exact same frame. Are you confusing the 6 and the 6 Plus?
  - the_mitsuhiko 10y ago
    No. 6 and 6S. Hold them both in hands and the 6 is noticeable nicer.
    - 8draco8 10y ago
      Unless you are holding heavily used 6s with scratches against brand new 6 but if they are two new units there is no difference between them and your perception of niceness is probably totally subjective without reflection in reality.
      - the_mitsuhiko 10y ago
        Are American 6s different? There is definitely a significant difference between a 6 and a 6s here (Europe). It cannot be missed.
- duskwuff 10y ago
  Er, really? The 6S is almost identical to the 6; the primary difference is that it's 0.1mm (!) thicker and 14 grams heavier. Is it possible you mean to compare the iPhones 6S and 6S Plus, which actually differ in size?
joezydeco 10y ago
Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save the $30 a month than upgrade their phone. Wasn't this why Apple was quietly introducting the "iPhone Upgrade Program"? http://www.apple.com/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program http://www.apple.com/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program Seems like Apple realized the future will be a place where everyone just leases their equipment on a monthly basis and switches stuff in-and-out as they need to...including the carrier (gasp!)
- 2muchcoffeeman 10y ago
  In Australia you always had to disclose the phone cost in a contract. People still keep upgrading phones.
  - tim333 10y ago
    In the UK it's changed and it's not so much that they disclose it as that you can buy them separately. In my case it's like £37/month for iPhone, data and minutes for a 2 year contract or £15 a month if you use your old handset. The latter option wasn't always there.
  - mgbmtl 10y ago
    Does it show as a line item on the monthly invoice, or in the fine print of the contract? Here in QC/Canada it's basically "90$/month for the 2 year upgrade" or "65$/month for BYOD".
    - madeofpalk 10y ago
      Line item on the invoice, plus a non-fine print part on the contract and any advertising material.
    - 2muchcoffeeman 10y ago
      The last time I had a contract, they had 2 line items. One for the service, one for the phone. But prepaid is pretty good here. I haven't been on a contract for years now. I just buy my phones.
uptown 10y ago
What's an iPad Air screen repair cost?
- ericabiz 10y ago
  iPad Air 1 is $120 to fix; newer ones are $260. The reason for the jump is that Apple moved to bonded technology (backlight, LCD, digitizer, glass is all one piece bonded from the factory) in the newer iPad Airs, so the parts are more expensive. The older iPads have separate glass/digitizer and LCD/backlight. Feel free to email me if you want more info--my contact info is in my profile.
usaphp 10y ago
aren't your customers a pretty small niche compared to the most of the Apple users in the US? Most of the people will go to apple store if they need a fix for their device instead of going to a local repair shop which will void their warranty. So the argument about people wanting/or not to upgrade to a new device a pretty subjective to your specific customer type, no? > "I recommend buying a refurbished 6 over any of the 6S line" I would not, upgrading to "S" was the biggest performance boost I've had, compared to regular 6 - it's blazing fast and on top of that I can't imagine myself without 3D touch app switching, live photos and text navigation, those do help a lot at least to me and most of the people I know.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- jonknee 10y ago
  > Most of the people will go to apple store if they need a fix for their device instead of going to a local repair shop which will void their warranty. It really depends on the location of the shop. There are a ton of people who don't live anywhere close to an Apple Store.
  - johansch 10y ago
    My bet: http://www.aliexpress.com/ http://www.aliexpress.com/ :) An example: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-lot-Mobile-Phone-LCD-Display-For-iphone-5S-lcd-Touch-Screen-Digitizer-Assembly-Black-and/2044174863.html http://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-lot-Mobile-Phone-LCD-Di... US $215.00/lot 10 pieces/lot, US $21.50/piece
radley 10y ago
I don't think buyers had much choice in colors. We're a dev shop and we couldn't get basic silver / grey devices with the specs we wanted. All they had was gold or pink.
- jonknee 10y ago
  Um, what? You can order whatever color you would like: http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone6s http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone6s
  - radley 10y ago
    When we need a device, we just walk into the store. We don't order online and wait around. To be fair, it was ATT & Best Buy where I ran into the limited colors, but that doesn't change the validity of my experience.
    - zepto 10y ago
      It doesn't change your experience but it might change the applicability - it could just as easily be an indicator of ATT & Best Buy's inventory policy.
    - jonknee 10y ago
      OK, but that doesn't change the fact that a lot of people do choose a color they want.
koolba 10y ago
In your experience what's the usual time between battery replacements? That's been the only "killer" for phones for me. With a decent case I feel like they otherwise last forever. My personal upgrade cycle usually involves someone else's (ex: spouse or parent) phone breaking, giving them mine, and buying a new one. Otherwise I'd probably still be on an iPhone 4.
- ericabiz 10y ago
  2-3 years is average, depending on how much you use your phone. Battery replacements are cheap (we charge $49 for the 5 series right now) and quick to do. Easiest way to know you need a battery replacement: Your phone gets to 40% or 20% and suddenly just dies on you. That means at least one cell in your battery is dead, and it's time to replace the whole battery. Also, if your screen is edging up on the left side but isn't cracked or broken, that's a sign of an exploded or "puffy" battery. Usually people have the first issue for a while, don't realize what's happening, and then eventually it goes puffy and explodes. It can even break the screen when it does that. As with other repairs, if you get a battery replacement at a repair shop, ask about the warranty. Replacement batteries can have real issues, and some runs of them have high defect rates. No big deal if the shop you work with has a good warranty and will just swap it out if it stops working.
  - beamatronic 10y ago
    I had an iPhone 3GS with the puffy battery issue, I replaced the battery and the replacement did the same thing. It puffs up almost like a bag of microwave popcorn. Very odd.
  - paws 10y ago
    This matches my experience on iPhone 5. Since I was out of warranty anyway I opted to self-replace the battery. http://www.onpaws.com/2015/10/fresh-iphone/ http://www.onpaws.com/2015/10/fresh-iphone/
  - sumedh 10y ago
    > don't realize what's happening Wait, why cant the OS tell the user that something is wrong with the battery.
kenjackson 10y ago
3D Force Touch has one really useful use, which is to go back to the previous app on the backstack. I use that constantly. But I use almost nothing each with 3D Touch.
- biot 10y ago
  I never knew this existed. Not sure it's much easier than double pressing the home button and choosing the last app though.
- Camillo 10y ago
  Where do you press to do that?
  - TheCoreh 10y ago
    On the left edge of the screen. You can either force press there, or force drag it to the middle of the screen from there.
    - Camillo 10y ago
      Oh. I can't really press the edge of the screen, because I use a case (the standard Apple silicone case). It's not impossible, but it's inconvenient.
rpgmaker 10y ago
I really hope #2 gets traction. It's been disappointing to see the SE not do as well as I wanted it to. I'm not an iPhone owner myself but I'm hoping the SE popularizes the "small" form factor phone again.
- guywithabike 10y ago
  Tim mentioned on the earnings call today that the SE is supply constrained because the SE is selling far better than they projected that it would.
  - shrewduser 10y ago
    i'm always dubious whenever a company says that.
    - happycube 10y ago
      Earnings calls are, in theory at least, bound by SEC laws to be truthful.
      - pratyushag2 10y ago
        It's probably true... I've been wanting to buy an unlocked Sprint version of iPhone SE 64gb and have been monitoring all the stores through their website frequently. It's not been available for the last 2 weeks and they have extra protectional measures to make sure iPhone SEs make it safely to the store.
  - rpgmaker 10y ago
    That's good to know. Thanks!
tjl 10y ago
My parents only replaced their iPhone 5 when the battery wasn't holding a charge as well as they'd liked. So, they replaced it with a 5S (this was before the SE, but it was free with a contract anyway). They use it for calls and directions, but not much else so the 5S is more than adequate.
- ericabiz 10y ago
  If they still have that 5, it's pretty cheap and quick to do a battery replacement (we charge $49 -- many shops charge similarly.) Should bring it back to life just like new. if nothing else, I think it would be worth doing just to have it as a backup phone.
  - tjl 10y ago
    I have the iPhone 5 now. Until getting this phone, I've never had a cell phone (I don't really get that many phone calls so I haven't bothered). To be honest, the battery life isn't great, but I just bought a small external battery to charge it when necessary. It was cheaper than a replacement and I didn't want to risk making a mistake in the swap. I have more than enough technical skill to do it, but since it's now my only phone I decided not to take the chance. I might do it if the battery life gets too bad.
_spoonman 10y ago
You don't by chance do business via mail or have a website do you? :)
- ericabiz 10y ago
  Sure :) http://www.1uprepairs.com http://www.1uprepairs.com - we are based out of Austin, TX. Email is in my profile if you need to reach me, or you can call our store during business hours.
tammer 10y ago
Apple needs an app revolution that drives people to seek faster CPU's. Seems like the only way to obsolete such effective & robust devices.
- jobu 10y ago
  The CPUs are already impressively fast, they just suck tons of power to do it. There are a few games I won't play on my phone anymore because they absolutely kill the battery. (Same with the Facebook app.) If there was any way to dramatically increase power efficiency or battery capacity it would be a huge draw for consumers.
bogomipz 10y ago
I would add this to this as well to the new "forever leasing a phone" model, you have to get insurance which makes sense. However the monthly insurance premium can go up at any time. This just just happened to me. I received a letter from the insurance company the carrier uses - not the carrier informing me that the insurance is going up $2.00 more a month(it was $8.00 its now $10.00.) Thats not an insignificant percentage. This is despite never having to have made a claim for any damages or replacement to the phone.
MicroBerto 10y ago
Hey Erica, hope you've been well!!! Do you have any thoughts on the software side of things? Personally, I think Steve Jobs rolls in his grave every time yet another crappy iOS update gets issued. It's led to a general distrust of anything "forward-moving", and that's led to a distrust in the newer phones too. Would your customers agree?
- ericabiz 10y ago
  From what I can tell, our customers generally fall into 2 camps: 1) Upgrade software whenever it's available and their phone prompts them or 2) Have been burned by an update or don't trust them for some reason, and almost never upgrade. Their computers follow a similar pattern. I don't have much to say about the software side, though one of the biggest problems we see is that people constantly run out of space on the lower-end 16GB phones, and the way Apple handles that is completely unintuitive. If Apple is going to continue to sell phones with such limited storage, they really need a better way to manage that storage and allow people to move items to the cloud or delete them more easily than just scrolling through a seemingly-infinite list of photos and videos.
jv0010 10y ago
Repair shop owner here as well. Couldn't agree more people are just continuing to use their old phones. We have big companies even asking to continue to repair iPhone 4S phones to date.
saturdaysaint 10y ago
Yeah, I own a 5S and I have almost no desire to replace it other than to upgrade storage to 128 Gb. Even after 3 major iOS upgrades, all of my most used apps open close enough to instantly. - the time it takes to pull the phone out of my pocket is the biggest bottleneck at this point. If I'm going to spend > $600, I expect my life to improve a little bit. I'll probably upgrade to the 7, mostly because I've gone without a case and have had some dings that do impact functionality, but I hope to go 4 or even 5 years with my next phone.
jdhawk 10y ago
Dont worry, Apple will force the upgrade the same way they always have. Make the next version of iOS so freaking slow on older devices that its unbearable to use. People that stay on iOS[789] will eventually be forced to upgrade in order to get their necessary app updates. My poor iPad 2 is so slow on iOS9 that its unbearable to use for any length of time. A5's are unbearable, A6's are not far behind.
- ericzawo 10y ago
  I hate hate HATE how standard practice this is. My 5C doesn't have night shift, for seemingly NO reason other than being the "value" iphone.
- Nicholas_C 10y ago
  Is it possible to downgrade the OS on an iPhone? Is that a viable option if the newer OS is very slow on an older phone?
  - jdhawk 10y ago
    No, apple stops signing the iOS images a few weeks after a new release. There is a method to go back to iOS6 if you have a jailbroken device, but its complex.
- chippy 10y ago
  It's not just Apple - it's the developers who release updates to their apps which, because they have the latest gear, are optimised for the latest hardware. I have an iPad2 and only recently upgraded it to iOS9 after 6? (I think, the one where they introduced the wobbly effect) - it got slow before I upgraded it because I updated all the software on it incrementally. It started lagging before I upgraded, indeed it was the reason why I upgraded the operating system. It didn't make any difference.
  - jdhawk 10y ago
    Interesting, I'd love to have that datapoint, but I was an idiot and pushed to iOS7 on my iPad2

johansch 10y ago

(Lots of interesting data; upvoted.) > It's $79 for us to fix an iPhone 5/5C/5S screen right now Interesting, since I have a 5s with a broken screen glass that I haven't bothered getting fixed yet. :) It used to be quite a bit more, I think? Have you figured out how to separate the glass (etc) from the actual display, or have replacement display+glass packages just gotten cheaper? (If you are replacing the display - is there any significant performance difference between the stock display and the replacement display?)

ericabiz 10y ago
All depends on the cost of parts. Part cost is very low right now...I advise people to get it fixed ASAP if they have the money! You never know what it will do--part cost bounces around like the stock market. Last year it bounced really high there for a bit, and now it's come back down. The backlight, LCD, digitizer (touch "web"), and top glass are all one piece. They come bonded from the factory. I never recommend glass-only repairs, and they're nearly impossible to do yourself. Some shops will do them, but realistically, with the 5 series screen cost so low right now, there's no reason to risk digitizer issues with a glass-only repair. (It's very difficult to replace only the glass without breaking the delicate digitizer "web" right below it.) From what we can tell, there is very little difference between an OEM display and the ones repair shops sell. The 6 model is slightly thicker. On a 5, you probably won't notice it. It is all about the warranty if you choose to get it replaced from a shop--some percentage of the screens are just going to have issues, and you want a shop that stands behind their work. (No repair shop warranty will cover if you drop or break the screen, though!)
- revelation 10y ago
  Where do you source parts from? Does Apple sell these like a car manufacturer would? The whole electronics repair business seems rather immature and shady compared to something like car repair. For a car make, you can easily get the software manufacturers give to repair shops which has all sorts of exploded assembly views, instructions and part lists.
  - ericabiz 10y ago
    No, Apple doesn't sell parts, though it would be nice if they did. The main way screens appear in the repair business is from companies in China that buy back screens with broken glass but functional LCD. They then replace the glass with new glass. Most of the screen is OEM, but not the top glass. They then ship these to repair shops and distributors, who use them to replace screens. That's why I mentioned in a previous comment that it's all about the warranty with a repair shop. No shop will warranty a cracked or broken screen, but most decent shops will warranty digitizer (touch) issues as long as there's no physical damage to the screen. That type of warranty is a must-have--there are only a small percentage of screens that go bad after a few days or weeks of use, but it really sucks if you get one and the shop refuses to replace it. > The whole electronics repair business seems rather immature and shady compared to something like car repair. Well, both are shady (plenty of YouTube exposes on oil change places that upsell services, charge for them, and don't perform them.) Honestly, one of the reasons I came into this industry was I was aware of the huge need for a non-shady repair shop in Austin, TX (where I live.) We're the highest-rated independent repair shop in Austin, and we take that pretty seriously, since there are so many horror stories of bad computer/game console/phone repair shops out there. We do our best to do right by our customers.

overcast 10y ago

3D Force Touch was one of those features I feel would have only caught on, if it was one of the original iPhone features. Tacking it on later, with little to no support in apps, makes it forgetware. I actually really like the functionality, and I completely forget it exists. There needs to be some type of small indicator reminder that a button HAS 3D touch.

rqebmm 10y ago
To me its real problem is that it's almost indistinct from long-press. Combine that with Apple's poor UX discoverability (I'm looking at you, swipe-from-the-side-to-see-iMessage-timestamps!) and 3D Touch is basically useless.
- k-mcgrady 10y ago
  >> "To me its real problem is that it's almost indistinct from long-press." Are you saying this as someone who actually uses the feature? Because in my experience a long press and 3D are very distinct. In fact 3D touch makes it quite difficult to long press on home screen icons to delete them.
  - rqebmm 10y ago
    I meant as a UX design pattern.
    - k-mcgrady 10y ago
      Ah ok I understand. That's true.
- dandelany 10y ago
  Yeah, Force Touch has really compounded their problems of overloaded and undiscoverable UX. I realized this recently when trying to tell a family member how to rearrange their home screen icons. It used to be "hold down an icon until it wiggles, then drag it". Now it's "hold down an icon, but not too hard, until it starts wiggling. What do you mean there's a popup?! Oh you pressed too hard. Tap somewhere else to close the popup and try holding down an icon again."

r00fus 10y ago

I think the reason most 6S's are rose gold is that it's the new latest color - i.e. you want the latest, and also to message that to everyone else? Get a rose-gold phone. Also, considering probably the vast majority of servicing of iPhones happens at an Apple genius bar, I'd say your (very informative) views of the population have some selection bias.

benologist 10y ago
There are still states in the US that don't have a single Apple store, lots with very few. Then there are ~180 countries with none and a handful of countries with very few. iPhone 6S is officially available in over 130 countries. http://www.cultofmac.com/278978/apple-stores-usa/ http://www.cultofmac.com/278978/apple-stores-usa/ Repairs are probably orders of magnitude more common outside of Apple stores.
CamperBob2 10y ago
Also, considering probably the vast majority of servicing of iPhones happens at an Apple genius bar That may not be the case for display replacements. From what I've seen, the Geniuses won't attempt to replace a screen if the phone's chassis is even slightly deformed. But the local fixit shops will. The question then becomes, "How random is the subset of people who get thrown out of the Genius Bar for screwing up their phone really badly?" The wealthiest of those will just buy a new phone, so that's one potential source of bias, I suppose.
Spooky23 10y ago
Pink (aka "rose gold") appeals to many women. It also differentiates from the sea of space grey devices.
zippergz 10y ago
I'd also wonder if there's something that skews more people who have rose gold phones to break them? Maybe they're less likely to use a case because they want to show off the color? Or maybe rose gold skews younger (and therefore possibly less responsible with electronics)? Total guesses, but I'm pretty confident that rose gold is not the best selling color of iPhone currently, so it seems like something else must be going on.

the_mitsuhiko 10y ago

Anecdotal evidence also suggests that people like the 6 more than the 6S. It's nicer to hold in hands and it's quite a bit cheaper for basically the same phone.

berberous 10y ago
Nicer to hold in hands? It's the exact same frame. Are you confusing the 6 and the 6 Plus?
- the_mitsuhiko 10y ago
  No. 6 and 6S. Hold them both in hands and the 6 is noticeable nicer.
  - 8draco8 10y ago
    Unless you are holding heavily used 6s with scratches against brand new 6 but if they are two new units there is no difference between them and your perception of niceness is probably totally subjective without reflection in reality.
    - the_mitsuhiko 10y ago
      Are American 6s different? There is definitely a significant difference between a 6 and a 6s here (Europe). It cannot be missed.
duskwuff 10y ago
Er, really? The 6S is almost identical to the 6; the primary difference is that it's 0.1mm (!) thicker and 14 grams heavier. Is it possible you mean to compare the iPhones 6S and 6S Plus, which actually differ in size?

joezydeco 10y ago

Providers have switched from "free upgrades every 2 years" to a plan cost and a monthly phone cost, so people now really know how much their phone costs--and many would rather save the $30 a month than upgrade their phone. Wasn't this why Apple was quietly introducting the "iPhone Upgrade Program"? http://www.apple.com/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program http://www.apple.com/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program Seems like Apple realized the future will be a place where everyone just leases their equipment on a monthly basis and switches stuff in-and-out as they need to...including the carrier (gasp!)

2muchcoffeeman 10y ago
In Australia you always had to disclose the phone cost in a contract. People still keep upgrading phones.
- tim333 10y ago
  In the UK it's changed and it's not so much that they disclose it as that you can buy them separately. In my case it's like £37/month for iPhone, data and minutes for a 2 year contract or £15 a month if you use your old handset. The latter option wasn't always there.
- mgbmtl 10y ago
  Does it show as a line item on the monthly invoice, or in the fine print of the contract? Here in QC/Canada it's basically "90$/month for the 2 year upgrade" or "65$/month for BYOD".
  - madeofpalk 10y ago
    Line item on the invoice, plus a non-fine print part on the contract and any advertising material.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 10y ago
    The last time I had a contract, they had 2 line items. One for the service, one for the phone. But prepaid is pretty good here. I haven't been on a contract for years now. I just buy my phones.

uptown 10y ago

What's an iPad Air screen repair cost?

ericabiz 10y ago
iPad Air 1 is $120 to fix; newer ones are $260. The reason for the jump is that Apple moved to bonded technology (backlight, LCD, digitizer, glass is all one piece bonded from the factory) in the newer iPad Airs, so the parts are more expensive. The older iPads have separate glass/digitizer and LCD/backlight. Feel free to email me if you want more info--my contact info is in my profile.

usaphp 10y ago

aren't your customers a pretty small niche compared to the most of the Apple users in the US? Most of the people will go to apple store if they need a fix for their device instead of going to a local repair shop which will void their warranty. So the argument about people wanting/or not to upgrade to a new device a pretty subjective to your specific customer type, no? > "I recommend buying a refurbished 6 over any of the 6S line" I would not, upgrading to "S" was the biggest performance boost I've had, compared to regular 6 - it's blazing fast and on top of that I can't imagine myself without 3D touch app switching, live photos and text navigation, those do help a lot at least to me and most of the people I know.

deleted 10y ago
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jonknee 10y ago
> Most of the people will go to apple store if they need a fix for their device instead of going to a local repair shop which will void their warranty. It really depends on the location of the shop. There are a ton of people who don't live anywhere close to an Apple Store.
- johansch 10y ago
  My bet: http://www.aliexpress.com/ http://www.aliexpress.com/ :) An example: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-lot-Mobile-Phone-LCD-Display-For-iphone-5S-lcd-Touch-Screen-Digitizer-Assembly-Black-and/2044174863.html http://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-lot-Mobile-Phone-LCD-Di... US $215.00/lot 10 pieces/lot, US $21.50/piece

radley 10y ago

I don't think buyers had much choice in colors. We're a dev shop and we couldn't get basic silver / grey devices with the specs we wanted. All they had was gold or pink.

jonknee 10y ago
Um, what? You can order whatever color you would like: http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone6s http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-iphone/iphone6s
- radley 10y ago
  When we need a device, we just walk into the store. We don't order online and wait around. To be fair, it was ATT & Best Buy where I ran into the limited colors, but that doesn't change the validity of my experience.
  - zepto 10y ago
    It doesn't change your experience but it might change the applicability - it could just as easily be an indicator of ATT & Best Buy's inventory policy.
  - jonknee 10y ago
    OK, but that doesn't change the fact that a lot of people do choose a color they want.

koolba 10y ago

In your experience what's the usual time between battery replacements? That's been the only "killer" for phones for me. With a decent case I feel like they otherwise last forever. My personal upgrade cycle usually involves someone else's (ex: spouse or parent) phone breaking, giving them mine, and buying a new one. Otherwise I'd probably still be on an iPhone 4.

ericabiz 10y ago
2-3 years is average, depending on how much you use your phone. Battery replacements are cheap (we charge $49 for the 5 series right now) and quick to do. Easiest way to know you need a battery replacement: Your phone gets to 40% or 20% and suddenly just dies on you. That means at least one cell in your battery is dead, and it's time to replace the whole battery. Also, if your screen is edging up on the left side but isn't cracked or broken, that's a sign of an exploded or "puffy" battery. Usually people have the first issue for a while, don't realize what's happening, and then eventually it goes puffy and explodes. It can even break the screen when it does that. As with other repairs, if you get a battery replacement at a repair shop, ask about the warranty. Replacement batteries can have real issues, and some runs of them have high defect rates. No big deal if the shop you work with has a good warranty and will just swap it out if it stops working.
- beamatronic 10y ago
  I had an iPhone 3GS with the puffy battery issue, I replaced the battery and the replacement did the same thing. It puffs up almost like a bag of microwave popcorn. Very odd.
- paws 10y ago
  This matches my experience on iPhone 5. Since I was out of warranty anyway I opted to self-replace the battery. http://www.onpaws.com/2015/10/fresh-iphone/ http://www.onpaws.com/2015/10/fresh-iphone/
- sumedh 10y ago
  > don't realize what's happening Wait, why cant the OS tell the user that something is wrong with the battery.

kenjackson 10y ago

3D Force Touch has one really useful use, which is to go back to the previous app on the backstack. I use that constantly. But I use almost nothing each with 3D Touch.

biot 10y ago
I never knew this existed. Not sure it's much easier than double pressing the home button and choosing the last app though.
Camillo 10y ago
Where do you press to do that?
- TheCoreh 10y ago
  On the left edge of the screen. You can either force press there, or force drag it to the middle of the screen from there.
  - Camillo 10y ago
    Oh. I can't really press the edge of the screen, because I use a case (the standard Apple silicone case). It's not impossible, but it's inconvenient.

rpgmaker 10y ago

I really hope #2 gets traction. It's been disappointing to see the SE not do as well as I wanted it to. I'm not an iPhone owner myself but I'm hoping the SE popularizes the "small" form factor phone again.

guywithabike 10y ago
Tim mentioned on the earnings call today that the SE is supply constrained because the SE is selling far better than they projected that it would.
- shrewduser 10y ago
  i'm always dubious whenever a company says that.
  - happycube 10y ago
    Earnings calls are, in theory at least, bound by SEC laws to be truthful.
    - pratyushag2 10y ago
      It's probably true... I've been wanting to buy an unlocked Sprint version of iPhone SE 64gb and have been monitoring all the stores through their website frequently. It's not been available for the last 2 weeks and they have extra protectional measures to make sure iPhone SEs make it safely to the store.
- rpgmaker 10y ago
  That's good to know. Thanks!

tjl 10y ago

My parents only replaced their iPhone 5 when the battery wasn't holding a charge as well as they'd liked. So, they replaced it with a 5S (this was before the SE, but it was free with a contract anyway). They use it for calls and directions, but not much else so the 5S is more than adequate.

ericabiz 10y ago
If they still have that 5, it's pretty cheap and quick to do a battery replacement (we charge $49 -- many shops charge similarly.) Should bring it back to life just like new. if nothing else, I think it would be worth doing just to have it as a backup phone.
- tjl 10y ago
  I have the iPhone 5 now. Until getting this phone, I've never had a cell phone (I don't really get that many phone calls so I haven't bothered). To be honest, the battery life isn't great, but I just bought a small external battery to charge it when necessary. It was cheaper than a replacement and I didn't want to risk making a mistake in the swap. I have more than enough technical skill to do it, but since it's now my only phone I decided not to take the chance. I might do it if the battery life gets too bad.

_spoonman 10y ago

You don't by chance do business via mail or have a website do you? :)

ericabiz 10y ago
Sure :) http://www.1uprepairs.com http://www.1uprepairs.com - we are based out of Austin, TX. Email is in my profile if you need to reach me, or you can call our store during business hours.

tammer 10y ago

Apple needs an app revolution that drives people to seek faster CPU's. Seems like the only way to obsolete such effective & robust devices.

jobu 10y ago
The CPUs are already impressively fast, they just suck tons of power to do it. There are a few games I won't play on my phone anymore because they absolutely kill the battery. (Same with the Facebook app.) If there was any way to dramatically increase power efficiency or battery capacity it would be a huge draw for consumers.

bogomipz 10y ago

I would add this to this as well to the new "forever leasing a phone" model, you have to get insurance which makes sense. However the monthly insurance premium can go up at any time. This just just happened to me. I received a letter from the insurance company the carrier uses - not the carrier informing me that the insurance is going up $2.00 more a month(it was $8.00 its now $10.00.) Thats not an insignificant percentage. This is despite never having to have made a claim for any damages or replacement to the phone.

MicroBerto 10y ago

Hey Erica, hope you've been well!!! Do you have any thoughts on the software side of things? Personally, I think Steve Jobs rolls in his grave every time yet another crappy iOS update gets issued. It's led to a general distrust of anything "forward-moving", and that's led to a distrust in the newer phones too. Would your customers agree?

ericabiz 10y ago
From what I can tell, our customers generally fall into 2 camps: 1) Upgrade software whenever it's available and their phone prompts them or 2) Have been burned by an update or don't trust them for some reason, and almost never upgrade. Their computers follow a similar pattern. I don't have much to say about the software side, though one of the biggest problems we see is that people constantly run out of space on the lower-end 16GB phones, and the way Apple handles that is completely unintuitive. If Apple is going to continue to sell phones with such limited storage, they really need a better way to manage that storage and allow people to move items to the cloud or delete them more easily than just scrolling through a seemingly-infinite list of photos and videos.

jv0010 10y ago

Repair shop owner here as well. Couldn't agree more people are just continuing to use their old phones. We have big companies even asking to continue to repair iPhone 4S phones to date.

saturdaysaint 10y ago

Yeah, I own a 5S and I have almost no desire to replace it other than to upgrade storage to 128 Gb. Even after 3 major iOS upgrades, all of my most used apps open close enough to instantly. - the time it takes to pull the phone out of my pocket is the biggest bottleneck at this point. If I'm going to spend > $600, I expect my life to improve a little bit. I'll probably upgrade to the 7, mostly because I've gone without a case and have had some dings that do impact functionality, but I hope to go 4 or even 5 years with my next phone.

jdhawk 10y ago

Dont worry, Apple will force the upgrade the same way they always have. Make the next version of iOS so freaking slow on older devices that its unbearable to use. People that stay on iOS[789] will eventually be forced to upgrade in order to get their necessary app updates. My poor iPad 2 is so slow on iOS9 that its unbearable to use for any length of time. A5's are unbearable, A6's are not far behind.

ericzawo 10y ago
I hate hate HATE how standard practice this is. My 5C doesn't have night shift, for seemingly NO reason other than being the "value" iphone.
Nicholas_C 10y ago
Is it possible to downgrade the OS on an iPhone? Is that a viable option if the newer OS is very slow on an older phone?
- jdhawk 10y ago
  No, apple stops signing the iOS images a few weeks after a new release. There is a method to go back to iOS6 if you have a jailbroken device, but its complex.
chippy 10y ago
It's not just Apple - it's the developers who release updates to their apps which, because they have the latest gear, are optimised for the latest hardware. I have an iPad2 and only recently upgraded it to iOS9 after 6? (I think, the one where they introduced the wobbly effect) - it got slow before I upgraded it because I updated all the software on it incrementally. It started lagging before I upgraded, indeed it was the reason why I upgraded the operating system. It didn't make any difference.
- jdhawk 10y ago
  Interesting, I'd love to have that datapoint, but I was an idiot and pushed to iOS7 on my iPad2