Not long ago, Apple announced the official launch of self-service repair services, customers can get maintenance manuals, original Apple parts and repair tools through Apple self-service repair shops. At present, the service is the first to be launched in the United States, and the rental price of Apple's self-service repair tools is $49 (about 320 yuan), and the lease term is one week. Of course, small partners with deep pockets can also buy the whole set of tools directly.
Some media have exposed the appearance of Apple's self-service repair tool rental kit, which contains all the tools needed to repair the iPhone 12, iPhone 13 series and the third generation of iPhone SE, it is said that the entire toolbox weighs 72 pounds, and customers will move the entire toolbox home to repair the iPhone is enough. As for the older iPhone models, Apple is expected to expand the scope of service support in the future.
Users do not hand over the iPhone to Apple after-sales, the most important thing is to save some maintenance costs, do their own food and clothing, or hand it over to a third-party maintenance agency, which will be much cheaper than the official after-sales service. However, Xiao Lei learned that the price of iPhone parts that Apple sells to consumers is almost the same as that of official repairs.
Taking the iPhone 12 display as an example, consumers buy related parts and maintenance kit services directly from Apple at a price of $267.96 (about 1760.01 yuan), while the official out-of-warranty maintenance cost is 279 US dollars (about 1832.52 yuan), which saves dozens of yuan in conversion. Besides, repairing mobile phones requires a certain amount of professional knowledge, not something that ordinary consumers can do well by following the instructions.
To save more money, users also need to send the replacement parts to Apple for recycling, and the display can get about 33 US dollars (about 216.7 yuan) discount. Although doing it yourself can indeed save some money, but the difficulty of self-service DIY is not low, Xiao Lei does not recommend that you toss your mobile phone in order to save one or two hundred pieces, in case it is broken, Apple is likely not warranted.
The head of the maintenance rights campaign of the U.S. public interest research organization said that Apple's self-service repair service is a good thing, but the authorities still exert too much control over the entire process. Xiao Lei believes that the real profit for consumers is to open the maintenance right to more third-party maintenance agencies, promote competition in the maintenance industry, and reduce the cost of repairing iPhones. In fact, Apple's opening of Face ID for separate repairs is much more meaningful than self-service repair services.
In the end, self-service repair service is still open to customers who have experience in mobile phone repair, and Apple itself has said that it does not want self-service service to be available to all iPhone users. For the vast majority of ordinary consumers, going to a qualified maintenance agency, or looking for official after-sales maintenance, is the safest and most reliable way.