Apple's self-service repair is available in France, is it beneficial?

The Apple firm launched Self Service Repair in April 2022, which offers users the opportunity to repair their Apple devices themselves. While it was until now only available in the United States, Apple has just expanded it to24 additional countries, all located on the old continent, including France.

If at first glance the service seems interesting, it could be thatit is not in all cases. In particular,the repairability index of Apple devicesis often low, despite the efforts that the firm has been making in this direction for some time.

Simulation of a repair

To get an idea of how the service works and how much it can cost, let's do a simulation together.

Let's say you just broke the glass on your iPhone 13 Pro and you're thinking about a solution. You say to yourself that this is perhaps the opportunity to change for a more recent model, then ultimately no, what's the point, the iPhone 13 range remains quite honorable and offers everything you expect from your smartphone on a daily basis. So you look at the different options available to you for replacing the damaged screen with a new one, and then you consider Apple's self-service solution.

To get an idea of how much the repair will cost you, you need togo to the dedicated service website. Here are the prices offered to be able to repair the screen of your iPhone 13 Pro yourself:

As you can see in the photo, the complete kit amounts to330,34 € TTC, but it is possible to recover a credit of €40.32 once the replacement has been made. This of course if you return your broken screen to Apple service.

From there, you either have all the tools you need to repair the screen yourself, or you can rent a device-specific Apple repair kit.The rental cost is €59.95, shipping included, and lasts 7 days. The Apple firm also asks€1000 depositfor each kit.

By adding up the price of the rental of the tools, as well as that of the part, then deducting the receipt following the return of the broken screen, the amount of the repair reaches approximately €350.

For comparison, this is also what it will cost you if you choose to repair it yourself with unofficial Apple parts. It therefore seems more advantageous to go through Self Service Repairin the case of the iPhone 13 Pro.But regarding the 13 for example, it is much more advantageous to go through a third-party seller. The price does not in fact change compared to the 13 Pro on the official Apple service, however on third party sites, it is possible topay three times less.