iPhone Repair Made Easier By Apple Soon

At the moment, it can be difficult to get your cracked iPhone display repaired in a way Apple approves of. Apple, obviously, would prefer that you take your shattered iPhone to its own stores or one of its authorized service centers, but the problem there is that wait times at some Apple stores can be ridiculously long. Apple has revealed that it will make the process a bit easier on iPhone users by providing partners with its Horizon repair machines.

According to a new write up by Reuters, Apple will provide around 400 Horizon machines to third-party repair shops around the world. Though the composition of these Horizon machines is largely kept a secret, their intended purpose is to make sure that a repaired iPhone's operating system plays nicely with new hardware, such as a new fingerprint scanner put in place during a display repair.

By seeding these machines to third-party repair facilities, Apple could significantly cut down on the long wait at some of its stores. While a lot of people take their phones to independent repair shops for display repairs, it seems that a growing number want to go straight to the manufacturer. In larger cities, this can translate to prohibitively long wait times, so these machines could help take some of the pressure off of first-party Apple stores.

Just as well, it can give iPhone users an official repair option in regions where there isn't an Apple store up and running. Some of these machines have already been given to authorized service centers in Miami, San Francisco's Bay Area, London, Shanghai, and Singapore though a pilot program that kicked off a year ago. By the end of the year, Apple wants to see the number of service centers equipped with a Horizon machine grow to 400.

In the US, the first partner to receive these machines will be Best Buy. The electronics retailer has already been using the aforementioned machine in Miami, and next on the list is the Best Buy store in Sunnyvale, California. We'll have to see if 400 machines is enough to ease the burden on overcrowded Apple stores or if Apple will need to supply more to third-party repair shops in 2018, so stay tuned.

SOURCE: Reuters