The repair of a damaged iPhone, assuming you’re not covered by a warranty, can cost you an enormous amount of money. Perhaps that’s not surprising, given the high price you pay for the phone in the first place, but you may be surprised by the repair costs for the new iPhone 12.
Apple has updated its maintenance price lists, and while some fixes – such as battery replacements – are the same for the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro as they were for the previous generation, the cost of replacing the screen has increased significantly.
In the UK, it costs £196.44 to repair the screen of an out-of-warranty iPhone 11, but doing the same for the iPhone 12 will set you back £266.44, an increase of £70 or 36%.
In the US the price has gone up from $199 to $279, a rise of 40%, while Europe sees an increase from €215.33 to €303.06, or 41%.
It’s important to note that this isn’t a range-wide change: screen repairs for the 12 Pro, by contrast, cost the same as for the 11 Pro. This is a specific change affecting the non-Pro model only, for the simple reason that it has an OLED display whereas the iPhone 11 did not. Apple has put OLED screens in every model this year, and these cost more to make and repair than the LCD screens used in the iPhone 11.
As usual, Apple takes this opportunity to highlight the advantages of AppleCare+ in the document. Anyone who has taken out this additional insurance pays just £25/$29 to replace the display. Replacing the battery is free if you’ve got the additional insurance.
Assuming you’re not put off by the higher screen repair costs – which we’d say are more than made up for by the advantages of OLED – you can browse the latest deals in our guide to where to buy the iPhone 12. Maybe buy a screen protector while you’re at it.
This article originally appeared on Macwelt. Translation by David Price.
