Burnt out LCD? It’s not covered under Apple’s standard warranty. Smashed device? Pretty obvious it won’t be under standard warranty — in fact, Apple Store technicians won’t even touch the phone.
How do we know? Business Insider has obtained a Dropbox cache featuring several pages of Apple’s “Visual/Mechanical Inspection Guide” for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone 7. It’s the guideline used by Geniuses to see if machines coming in are eligible for warranty service and if they can be accepted for any service at all.
Keep in mind that a limited warranty will not feature as much support for certain types of damage as an AppleCare contract might. Refer to the source article at our link below this story for further details.
There are only a few conditions that can be guaranteed absolute coverage, regardless of any accidental or liquid damages:
- Debris under display glass or pixel anomaly (upon user claim only)
- FaceTime camera foam misalignment
- Single hairline crack to the front glass without point of impact or additional cracks
Yes, if your iPhone’s screen did get hit (not on the screen itself, apparently) and a single hairline crack resulted, you can get a same-unit repair or, if not feasible, a replacement unit. This allowance was made in VMIs since 2014.
The following damage is eligible for out-of-warranty coverage:
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- Liquid damage confirmed by user
- Clear evidence of corrosion or internal LCI [liquid corrosion indicator] triggered
- Any LCD fractures
- Damage due to laser contact with camera
- Single hairline crack with point of impact or additional cracks
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- Any chips of multiple cracks in glass
- Damaged audio/Lightning connector
- Extreme abrasion, puncture holes, or button damaged or missing from drop
- Bent enclosure
- Split enclosure
- Speaker/microphone grille damage
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Finally, the following damage is ineligible for service:
- Mismatch between the configuration code and the color, size, or model
- Intentional tampering or damage
- Disassembled unit or missing parts
- Non-Apple Batteries
- Catastrophic damage: includes units that are destroyed or forcibly separated into multiple pieces
Cosmetic wear, such as scuffs, gouges and color changes to the body of the device are also not covered.
The guideline is just a guideline, though: one retail-side source to Business Insider said that “one-off issues” that typically aren’t covered under warranty may get replaced anyways.