What Does Apple Do With The Broken iPhones that have been replaced?

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Level 1

1 points

What Does Apple Do With The Broken iPhones that have been replaced?

Hello all,

This is just a think I've been wondering about. After having absolutely trashed my iPhone I went into the Apple store and paid for a replacement.

There was very little fuss and I got a brand new iPhone.

I was just wondering, what do Apple actually do with the broken iPhones that they are replacing every day? Are they broken down for parts to be reused in other iPhones or are they binned?

I was thinking this because surely it would be time consuming to test every single component in each iPhone? Added to the fact if they reused the motherboard, the original owner could still report it lost and block the IMEI number?

iPhone 3G, iPhone OS 3.1.3

Posted on Apr 28, 2010 8:38 AM

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Answer 1

Tamara

Level 6

13,744 points

Apr 28, 2010 8:45 AM in response to davesims

Broken phones are sent back to a factory, tested to find out what components failed and then are refurbished. The refurbished units are either used as service units at the Genius Bar or sold as refurbished.

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Answer 2

varjak paw

Level 10

182,662 points

Apr 28, 2010 8:47 AM in response to davesims

Unless the iPhone has been too damaged to reuse, they're sent through Apple's refurbishment procedure and put into the service stock as replacements for other defective or broken iPhones.

if they reused the motherboard, the original owner could still report it lost and block the IMEI number?

I don't know how they handle it but Apple, as would be the case with any cellphone vendor that refurbishes defective units (certainly all smartphone manufacturers), clearly has a procedure for addressing that issue.

There was very little fuss and I got a brand new iPhone.

Though receiving a completely new unit isn't out of the realm of possibility, it's unusual. Most likely you got a refurbished unit.

Regards.

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Answer 3

snkhan

Level 3

677 points

Apr 28, 2010 8:44 AM in response to davesims

The iPhone replacements given at the AppStore (which usually come in a brown padded cardboard box) are refurbished iPhones. I guess someone checks whether the phone is repairable and these are probably fixed and then reused. (An Apple genius has previously confirmed that phones replaced within warranty are indeed refurbished models).

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Answer 4

wjosten

Level 10

95,369 points

Apr 28, 2010 8:44 AM in response to davesims

I've been buying them by the container load, I take the memory out & add it to my phone. Currently, I'm running 103.8 terabit's(not all the memory is good) 😉.

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