Apple Makes IPad Repair Absurd
For years, Apple’s policy on device repairs was pretty straightforward: Take it to us or an approved repair shop, or buy a new one. The company didn’t want independent repair shops or, God forbid, actual customers to be able to buy genuine Apple parts and repair their own devices.
It wasn’t just Apple — many companies wanted to maintain a monopoly on selling parts and repair plans for their devices to the general public. But after years of resistance from the Right to Repair movement, which advocates for consumers to be able to repair their devices, things have changed. Apple now has an official self-service store where you can buy genuine parts and tools to repair your devices. While not all Apple products are serviced here, many are, including a number of iPads . If something happens to your eligible iPad, instead of taking it in for repair, you can simply find the right part at an Apple self-service store and buy it yourself.
Good luck in finding cheap iPad parts through Apple
The problem is that Apple is charging way too much for some of these parts. As 404 Media reports , customers looking to get their iPads repaired are finding parts that are not only more expensive than used parts, but also more than half the retail price of the iPad itself. One big one is the new USB-C port for the iPad M4, which costs $250 at the Apple Store. On Amazon, the part costs $35 , while other retailers have USB-C ports for as little as $20. Be prepared before you look for a display replacement, as prices can skyrocket depending on your iPad. For example, the display for the 13-inch iPad Pro M4 costs $749. Depending on the tablet, you could buy another iPad for that price, and while the MSRP for this particular iPad is $1,300, that display repair cost is pretty much the same as buying a brand new device.
That likely explains Apple’s decision to charge such high prices for parts, at least according to Jonathan Strange, founder of XiRepair. Strange told 404 Media that independent repair shops can’t afford to buy more than a third of these iPad parts, based on a calculation that includes the cost of parts, labor, and a 10% profit margin. The cost of these parts is more than half the cost of replacing the iPad itself, which Strange believes is deliberately designed to discourage stores and customers from buying these parts. If a customer doesn’t buy the part, or takes the tablet to a repair shop that doesn’t buy it, they’re more likely to buy a new iPad.
Even if you’re willing to accept the higher price, you may have further problems down the road. Quinn Nelson of SnazzyLabs wrote in X that Apple ended up sending the wrong size iPad parts. Nelson was trying to replace the standard glossy display with Apple’s nano-texture display, but the company didn’t send him the right size:
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Apple doesn’t usually repair iPads.
If you don’t want to fix your iPad yourself, or an independent repair shop doesn’t have the part you need, you can take it to Apple. They fix the broken display on your iPhone, so why shouldn’t they fix the display on your iPad, too?
As it turns out, the answer may actually be no. Apple doesn’t typically repair iPads that are accepted for repair. The working iPad you get from an Apple Store is usually a replacement device , not the iPad you turned in. The reasons for this policy aren’t entirely clear, but Strange believes it has to do with the difficulty of repairing iPads. He believes that Genius Bar employees and Apple-authorized repair shops don’t have the coordination and training to reliably service these devices, which is why Apple rarely repairs iPads in its stores:
Apple doesn’t repair its iPads not because they can’t be repaired, but because Apple’s retail chain can’t handle the complexity of the repairs. A geek crew or a Genie Bar employee at an Apple store repairing an iPad is like a Ford sales rep changing a transmission in a Ford: it will be a disaster due to the complexity, the skill gap, and the sheer lack of experience.
Contact Apple to get your iPad repaired
Like other devices, you can purchase iPad parts from a variety of vendors to try to fix it yourself. But because the iPad is a specialized device, you won’t have as many options as you would for an iPhone.
That said, you can definitely find parts at a discount. According to 404 Media, you can buy a replacement charging port for a fraction of the cost of a repair from an Apple store. However, there are a few risks if you do this. Depending on where you buy the part, you may not have the same protection as buying directly from Apple: If the part fails, the store may not offer a guaranteed replacement like Apple does — although it didn’t cost you $250, so that’s a plus. Even if it does work, if it’s a third-party part that affects a security feature of your iPad like Face ID or Touch ID,Apple may disable it . For this reason, it’s best to find genuine or used Apple parts if possible.
But if you have an older iPad, bypassing Apple might be a good thing. Apple’s official repair program only supports the latest iPad models anyway — my 2021 iPad Pro M1, for example, isn’t covered. If you have an iPad that can’t be repaired from Apple, your only option is to opt out of the program.
If you’re going to buy parts for your iPad, I’d recommend a company like iFixit . They have parts for every type of iPad, and they have step-by-step instructions on how to repair your tablet yourself. Some parts even come with a lifetime warranty, so if something breaks, you can go to iFixit — a random dealer is unlikely to offer you the same.
Ultimately, the iPad is one of the hardest Apple devices to repair. Not because it can’t be repaired, but because Apple has made a series of business decisions that have made it difficult to repair. Parts aren’t easy to find, those that are can be expensive, and the tablet itself is quite complex. A super-thin piece of glass and metal won’t be easy to repair even in the best of circumstances.
However, we should all aim to make our devices last as long as possible. The challenge here is to find a way to do this without breaking the bank.