Free fault repairs

None of this should matter, of course, if you’re unlucky enough to have bought a defective product. On top of the usual warranties, Apple is offering free repairs for faulty 13–inch MacBook Pro units without Touch Bar sold between June 2017 and June 2018. The 128GB and 256GB SSD drives in these are at risk of failure, resulting in loss of data.

If you think your MacBook Pro is affected by this issue, you can submit your device’s serial number on a dedicated web page at bitly.com/

mfmbpssd. If your device is eligible, you can take it to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider, or mail it to Apple (Apple says you should back up your drive first). If you have already paid for a repair, you can claim a refund.

Apple is also offering a free repair for faulty iPhone X screens. Apple says areas of the iPhone X display can become unresponsive to touch inputs, or can register inputs where there were none. The problem lies in a display module component that can fail. Again, go to an Apple Store or Authorized Service Provider, or mail your iPhone to Apple. Interestingly, Apple is not asking for a serial number check on this, suggesting that the fault could potentially affect any iPhone X.

Finally, Apple is reportedly planning to extend its repair services to “vintage” devices as old as iPhone 4S and the 2012 MacBook Pro. Apple previously offered repairs for just five to seven years, but the Repair Vintage Apple Products Pilot program could extend the lifetimes of otherwise useable products that happen to develop a repairable fault.