Cracked screens, non-responsive touch buttons, broken plug stuk inside the headphone connector, corroded lightning connector, and of course several cases of submersion in liquid. But I have never heard of camera failures.
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Apple Warns Against iPhone Camera Repairs With Non-Genuine Parts
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Do you realize that even if you replace it with a completely genuine part you’ll get the message if the repair wasn’t done on an Apple store?
I was concerned that the article appeared to suggest the information completely disappeared after 15 days, but fortunately the Apple document does state;
Except that does protect the consumer too. It might be more expensive or anti-competitive by Apple but if the warning appears for either non-genuine parts or replacement by a non-authorized shop/individual then it can reduce the risk of damage or fraud.
Let’s look at it this way. If you need surgery you have options. You can go to someone without a license and board certification or you can go to someone who is licensed and boarded. Does this make Joe’s Backyard Surgery bad? Maybe not. Does this make Dr. Shoulder’s surgery good? No, but it reduces the likelihood of poor outcomes. Joe costs less than Dr. Shoulder but the outcomes could be drastically different.
Of course, phone repair is not surgery (on a human) but there are similarities. Phones do, however, contain loads of personal information including financial and health records so that could be used as argument for only certified technicians.
Note: I am not in favor of Apple’s broader restrictions on repairs, although it doesn’t matter to me because I live in the U.S. and always have used Apple to service my products, the few times it’s ever needed to be done in the 20+ years I’ve owned Apple products. I’m simply able to see some merits of the restrictions.
But it doesn't change that - that's only valid for AASPs as they are the only ones who are able to pair the camera.
Which they don't, since there is no way for an independant repair shop to replace the camera, even with a genuine part, without this message showing up as Apple won't give them the software to pair them.
Most users are not techy, they just whine and ask to others. Having the system to tell if if the camera is original is useful and not intrusive. I know many users who did a third party repair and I did it myself for quite a while, often the parts are garbage. users blame Apple not the repairers or the camera, now they have a hint about what is the real issue.
Post like yours fuel the idiotic idea of these things are always bad for costumers and evil, and creates a toxic community. Apple Care can exchange your phones in few days practically all around the world.
Apple is like a car dealership that penalizes you for changing your own car's oil, just because you didn't use their store brand of motor oil. Oh, and your car won't work if you use any other parts that aren't Apple parts. Thanks, Apple.
Steve Jobs has to be spinning in his grave fast enough to generate gravity by this point.
Steve Jobs has to be spinning in his grave fast enough to generate gravity by this point.
They don't currently. But if countries/states pass right-to-repair laws, they will legally be required to make the parts and pairing software available.
Yes. But without this step, I'm not sure that there's a reasonable way for the phone to distinguish a genuine part from a good fake.
I do fully agree that Apple needs to make both the genuine parts and the pairing software more widely available. ie: any shop that purchases a genuine Apple part should get access to the software to pair/activate that part.
This warning applies to all Apple products these days:
"DON'T touch our devices. PAY us, so we can do it for you. But REMEMBER, if you want us to fix more than one thing in your device, it will cost you more than the new device. And you know what? We LOVE it this way, and ONLY APPLE could do that."
"DON'T touch our devices. PAY us, so we can do it for you. But REMEMBER, if you want us to fix more than one thing in your device, it will cost you more than the new device. And you know what? We LOVE it this way, and ONLY APPLE could do that."
Exactly, which is the point I made in the rest my post.
The fact that Apple doesn't do this, and on top of that nags users through the software, proves the point that Apple has a loooong way to go to move to a more repair-friendly environment.
Apple really doesn’t care about average joe. It is purely because of money and greed.
Why would this applies to complete legit parts? We went through this discussion when Apple decided to put warning message for battery replacement.
Your idea of third party replacement automatically means lower quality parts amusing. I never have bothered to changed battery from Apple Store. Amazon offers plenty high quality batteries.
Forgot about any board repairs, Apple won’t do this. Remember iPhone 7 microphone issue? Apple never offered repairs for these problems.
What is next? Will Apple put a message warning about customer about non-genuine capacitor?
For older phones, there would be a point where I just want it working again, and I'll prefer a cheap camera to a better camera but more expensive camera. In Europe, the repair is responsibility of the seller anyway for two years, in that case this message would be really helpful if the seller repairs it with cheaper parts.
Worst case, you sent your phone out with a completely unrelated problem, and they just take your original Apple camera and replace it with a cheaper one. In China, sellers of brand new iPhones have replaced original Apple charges with some cheap rubbish charger, and then sold the original ones for extra profit.
There are huge differences between developed countries and us in the rest of the world. It would be great if Apple Service Provider in my country would have this equipment to do it, but they still don't. Maybe soon they will as sales of iPhone 12 have started. Currently they only do repairs with parts that don't require security pairing with new parts like this camera part and up to and including iPhone 11, all the rest is sent to another country for repair and you have to wait up to 45 days according to their terms. If you are under warranty you get repair for free, but still you have to wait for repair to be done. I don't know a single person who has iPhone and Apple Care so I don't know if you can exchange phone here.
If there was an official Apple Store in my country, I wouldn't worry at all, but without one it is PITA and very expensive (if your phone is out of warranty) to repair your iPhone here.
For repairs in Apple Service Provider for out of warranty iPhones you have to first pay around 20 EUR for diagnostics which can take up to 5 working days. If it turns out that they can't repair it and have to send it to Apple in another country, that is around 50 EUR more just for shipping it back and forth plus repair price. They also state that they are eligible to use used parts for repairs.
EDIT: it seems there is no Apple Certified Service Provider in my country. There is only Apple Service Provider which is quite different so it seems to be root cause why they can't make these repairs and have to send each device abroad for repairs.
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You are serious about replacing the camera in your iPhone? I know how to use a screwdriver, that puts me probably ahead of 90% of Apple's customers :-( I wouldn't touch the insides of an iPhone. Sorry, but you are in a tiny minority.
Man... people love being dramatic.
This in no way stops you, or another person, from repairing your phone. It only negatively affects people who don't want to tell the buyer that they repaired the phone.
If you have bought an expensive iPhone 12, and five years from now the camera breaks, you might be quite happy with a cheap replacement. So it looks like you get an intrusive warning for 14 days and after that it will show up in Settings, but the repair will work.
Me: I got my phone repaired at Hanks phone repair, so much cheaper than Apple. Apple sucks
Me: my camera doesn’t take good pictures anymore. Apple sucks
Apple: your phone contains non-genuine camera parts and may not work as intended
Me: Apple sucks
About right?
Me: my camera doesn’t take good pictures anymore. Apple sucks
Apple: your phone contains non-genuine camera parts and may not work as intended
Me: Apple sucks
About right?
I would expect that if you repair yourself with genuine Apple parts, it should not be an issue.
This will become more of an issue a few years from now when you get two used iPhone 12 for $100 and want to swap parts from a lessor gb model into a broken camera higher gb model.
Apple could also be signaling that their parts in the iPhone 12 failed long term testing and in the next few years we’ll see a flurry of failing cameras among other parts.
Apple could also be signaling that their parts in the iPhone 12 failed long term testing and in the next few years we’ll see a flurry of failing cameras among other parts.
I can understand locking security components to an iPhone, such as touch ID or Face ID but including a warning about camera replacement will obviously discourage cheaper third party repairs and end up with yet more waste. A huge portion of the electronics we think we recycle end up being burned or buried.
