AppleCare Changes Will Save Money, Maybe Make Customers Happier

When you visit the Genius Bar at your local Apple Store with a complaint about your portable iDevice, if it’s in warranty, they’ll generally hand you a new-to-you refurbished device and send you on your way. AppleInsider reported this weekend that for some basic repairs, that’s about to change.

According to a source inside the company, Apple held a town hall meeting for technical staff on Thursday to explain changes coming in June to the company’s “after sales” policies, or what regular people call extended warranties. The biggest practical change will be that more repairs, such as battery and screen replacements, will happen on site at Apple Stores instead of giving customers the familiar refurbs. The company expects to save $1 billion by fixing customers’ devices instead of handing them new ones.

Another change, according to the site’s sources? This could be good news for Mac fans with a messenger bag filled with the company’s products: there’s a proposed new service tier that would be tied to the user through a subscription instead of to the device through a fixed-term extended warranty.

Big changes coming to AppleCare this fall: warranty subscriptions, in-store iOS device repairs, more [AppleInsider] (Thanks, Mindy!)

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