Submitted by Jon Reed on
Starting on Monday, January 20, Apple will be replacing damaged iPhone 5c screens in their stores. This is good news for any 5c owner who, after a bad drop, has had that sinking feeling confirmed when they turned it over to find a spiderweb of broken glass.
Everybody knows someone who perpetually has a fractured screen - their warranty has run out and they didn't purchase insurance and they are waiting for their upgrade, or they'd rather have a broken screen than go through re-installing
everything. Now they will be able to go to an Apple store and have the screen replaced in under an hour. The service will cost $149 for a screen not covered by warranty, which is a lot cheaper than purchasing a new unit for several hundred dollars. This will also save Apple a lot of money, since the cost of replacing a screen is significantly cheaper than that of replacing an entire handset for someone who is covered.
If you have a cracked screen that you're sick of, just make an appointment at your local Apple store and have it fixed by the time you walk out, unless you are in Canada or Hong Kong where, unfortunately, the service is not yet available. If this turns out to be the win-win for Apple and its customers that it sounds like, I suspect the service will eventually be available for iPhone 5s owners as well.