If you drop your iPhone and don't have AppleCare, it's almost always cheaper to have it repaired by a third party than by Apple. Unless, of course, you have an iPhone 5.
Apple's tight control over iPhone 5 parts is so great that it is difficult to obtain them, thus greatly increasing the cost of repairing it, even by third parties, making it very difficult for them to offer a more competitive price.
Apple charges $229 to replace a cracked iPhone 5 screen, which is $29 more than buying a new device with a two-year contract (in the US). It's also more than a third of the price of an iPhone 5 without a contract. However, using a third-party service to repair it won't cost you any less. In fact, in some cases it's more expensive.
According to a new report from MarketWatch, some people are charging up to $250 to replace an iPhone 5 screen, while others are not replacing it at all.
“Due to the very expensive parts, they don’t offer iPhone 5 repairs yet,” writes ComputerOverhauls.com. “Right now, the Apple Store is the cheapest option.”
If the materials were cheaper and easier to obtain, repairing an iPhone 5 screen would be much cheaper because the process is so easy. According to AJ Forsythe, founder of iCracked, an iOS device repair service, it takes about five to ten minutes to replace an iPhone 5 screen because there are only five screws holding it in place.
In comparison, replacing the screen on the iPhone 4 takes longer because 27 screws and several smaller parts have to be removed from the inside. And yet, the cost to replace the screen on an iPhone 4 is between $79 and $99.
According to Forsythe, the market determines the price of repairing an iPhone, and since Apple sells 300,000 iPhones a day, prices are falling.
But that will only happen if Apple loosens its control over the iPhone 5 parts.
“Apple controls everything from manufacturing to the smallest part of the iPhone 5, forcing people to buy Apple Care so that it’s cheaper to repair an iPhone 5,” says Jeff Haynes of TechBargains.com.
Therefore, those of you who are prone to damaging your devices, you would probably be better off getting an iPhone 4 or an iPhone 4S, because it costs much less to repair, unless you want to buy AppleCare.
Dimitrios Georgoulas @ GreekAppleNews
