Apple is having problems again.
Many people have unconditional trust in the quality of the products produced by Apple, believing that it is a first-class level in the industry in terms of quality control. Indeed, Apple has a set of extremely professional and strict requirements when producing related products, but in the past two years, Apple's control of quality control has become worse and worse, like what iPhone 12 large-scale green screen, AirPods 3 is not as good as Huaqiang North and so on.
On April 22, Apple's official website released a new recall maintenance plan, because Apple found that many Apple Watch S6 users reported that they frequently encountered black screens on the device, which seriously affected the use experience, so it decided to recall related products on a large scale.
As ordinary consumers, we naturally raise our hands in favor, after all, Apple's maintenance strategy is different from most manufacturers, except for the iPhone, most of the products are directly replaced by replacement repair. In other words, if something goes wrong with your product, Apple will give you a brand new one, the only downside of which is that it may take a while.
After adding this product, Apple has a total of 16 products to support the official replacement. Although it does sound a little disgraceful, after all, from another point of view, Apple has a total of 16 products in the quality control of the problem, but this willing to recall the problematic products at the first time is still worth learning from friends. So suppose there is a problem with the Apple product in our hands, how to enjoy free repair or replacement service?
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Before officially starting to popularize Apple's maintenance strategy, I will briefly summarize the official replacement products currently supported by Apple, namely: iPhone 12, iPhone 11, iPhone X, iPhone 7, iPhone 6s, AirPods Pro, MacBook Pro (2015, 2016), iPad Air3, Apple Watch 6, 5, SE, 3, 2, etc.
I believe that many readers will have some questions at first glance, especially why can "antique" products such as iPhone 6s and Apple Watch S2 enjoy new services?
Here to take the iPhone 6s as an example, from the service page provided by Apple's official website, it can be seen that Apple has determined that some iPhone 6s series products can not be turned on repeatedly, but this problem will only affect the production of iPhones before October 2018 to August 2019.
So why does Apple support these older products? Although each of Apple's products has a fairly high sales volume in the world, these problematic machines are basically concentrated in a time period, which can greatly reduce the cost of Apple's repair and replacement. Moreover, the users who will use such old products are even fewer and fewer, apple's operation not only increases the brand stickiness of old users, but also may attract more new users, this low-cost and high-return policy really makes people have to sigh Apple's "old calculations".
Think of the battery explosion of a mobile phone in South Korea that year to confuse the domestic region, resulting in them from the level of the top few sales in the country to the others, it can be imagined that Apple's policy in order to reduce the negative impact is to recall, help customers repair well and then return to customers one by one.
For example, almost every generation of Apple products will have more or less problems, such as signal problems, motherboard problems, etc., but as long as it does not affect the use of users, Apple basically will not choose to recall. Of course, the practice of recall can also be regarded as safeguarding the rights and interests of consumers and making up for their own faults.
Under normal circumstances, the huge shipments will inevitably have problems with some models, which is indeed understandable, but for the Apple technology giants, this low-level mistake should not be made. After all, this simplest basic error is likely to seriously affect their own reputation and the degree of trust that users have in themselves.
Having said all this, how should we know whether the Apple device in our hands supports repair and replacement? Take the recalled Apple Watch S6 as an example. First of all, we can determine whether we belong to the official recycled batch by looking at the production date on the box; if the box has long been lost, we can also check the serial number of the watch through the official website to determine whether it meets the requirements.
Here is also a brief description of how to query the Serial Number method of apple Watch:
How to check on the watch:
1. On your Apple Watch, open the Settings app;
2. Tap General > About This Mac, then scroll down;
3. Look for serial number or IMEI;
How to query on your phone:
1. On your iPhone, open the Apple Watch App;
2. Tap the My Watch tab, then tap General > About This Mac;
3. Look for the serial number or IMEI.
Of course, Apple also provides a fast query channel for all Apple Watch Series 6 users, as long as you enter the product serial number, you can quickly query whether it is eligible for free services, Apple also specifically states that any Apple Watch products other than Series 6 are not in this service plan, so non-Apple Watch Series 6 users should not try.
In addition, it should be noted that just like other Apple product free maintenance plans, this time only for the black screen problem, if there is a broken screen, water and other issues, you need to pay for it yourself, after all, this kind of problem is man-made, Apple will not carry the pot for you.
Another point for Apple Watch Series 6 users should note that although this is a global service plan, the scope of service is limited to the original place of purchase, which means that non-NATIONAL Bank products cannot enjoy this service in China even if they have problems with meeting the requirements.
Apple's quality control should indeed be taken seriously
After a brief search of information, I found an interesting point, that is, each collective recall of Apple follows the same law. When Apple products are still in the sales cycle, no matter what kind of problems the product has, it will not be recalled for maintenance. And if a new generation of products has been ushered in, the old products will inevitably appear on the list.
For example, in August 2021, the iPhone 13 recalled the iPhone 12 when it was launched; in December 2020, the iPhone 12 was recalled shortly after it went on sale, and the AirPods Pro, which was launched in October 2020, was recalled. I also venture to guess here that Apple will recall the Apple Watch S7 in November this year, and readers are welcome to come to this article for archaeology.
Is Apple's quality control getting worse and worse? Several readers in the Apple industry chain in the previous comment area have reacted that Apple's grasp of technology and quality control details is very strict. AAC, which has supplied acoustic components to Apple, has said that on the production line of AAC Apple, software, computers, and ERP systems are all given by Apple, and if there is a small mistake somewhere, Apple will immediately send an email. And they don't have access until Apple opens the permissions. In addition, more than 20 Apple engineers take turns to be stationed to help them solve problems.
Image source Lei Technology public account comment area
Apple's criteria for selecting suppliers are equally strict, and BOE supplied OLED panels to Apple until the third review. Some manufacturers bound to Apple's core interests will be acquired by it; suppliers who do not meet the requirements will be kicked out of the supply chain without hesitation, and offline at home and Intel abroad are examples of this.
However, some industry insiders believe that in recent years, the apple industry chain has moved to Southeast Asia, and the quality of local workers is not as high as in China, which may be the main reason for the decline in apple quality control.
However, although Apple's quality level has plummeted in the past two years, it is still difficult to shake Apple's position in the market. Taking the iPhone as an example, according to a report by market research agency IDC, in the first half of 2020, China's high-end market share of Huawei was 44.1%, ranking first, and Apple was 44%, ranking second. By July 2021, Apple's share in the high-end market rose to 63%, far exceeding all mobile phone brands, while Huawei fell to 14%, and the two sets of data can basically objectively prove that in the current high-end mobile phone market, Apple is still the "king".
For consumers who only like to buy high-end flagships, the iPhone is their first choice in the case of the poor performance of Android flagship phones this year. Therefore, I can simply conclude that as long as Apple products do not have any particularly serious problems, it is basically impossible to affect the actual sales.
But no matter what, since Apple sells its products so expensive, it should bring us a good experience, especially with such a basic quality problem, Apple really should not make it again and again.