Apple fans will soon have another option if their iPhones are damaged. For the first time ever, customers at Apple Retail stores can bring in their iPhones with cracked screens, buttons, and cameras and receive credit towards new products. It’s a big, but welcome departure from their prior policy which would only allow phone trade-ins if they at most showed wear, but not any significant damage.
Before anyone goes about bringing in that phone they ran over in a plastic bag or pulled out of the swimming pool, the damage to the phones under this new program can only be ‘within reason’ in order to be eligible for a trade-in under the new Reuse and Recycling program. Depending on the phone model that is traded in, customers can get credits for $50 on the iPhone 5s, $200 for the iPhone 6, and $250 for the iPhone 6 plus.
The development is a welcome change in policy, as it creates a convenience for customers to take their trade-ins and new purchases in one place. There is no shortage of phone recycling options out in the retail market, and there is an entire industry designed to get customers through the door, trading in and moving up to the next technology. Now, Apple Retail locations will have that same ability to bring customers in, trading in an entirely different class of used devices, and sell them on the latest phones they have to deliver.
Another retail move accompanied this announcement as screen protector installation machines will start hitting the Apple Retail stores in the days ahead. These machines are provided by Belkin, and they will offer a machine-based application of screen protectors, which was a service which was not allowed by Apple employees in the store. The service should help bolster one customer service aspect of accessories sales.
Edited by
Kyle Piscioniere 
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