Nearly two months after launching its iPhone 16 lineup, which struggled for sales at launch and is still facing a measured rollout of Apple Intelligence, Apple has now added these devices to its self-repair program. It’s a continuation of the company’s efforts that began in 2022, which provides the tools and parts necessary for customers to perform a variety of repairs on their own.
iPhone 16 owners will now have access to the parts necessary to make certain replacements. For example, the battery for $99, display for $279, back glass for $169, speakers for $67, TrueDepth camera used by FaceID for $249, and much more. Just about anything short of replacing the mainboard powering the iPhone can be fixed by someone willing to put in the time and effort to do so. Importantly, these are all genuine parts, ensuring that they will play nice within Apple’s locked down ecosystem once installed. Tool kit rentals start at $49.
While the parts and tools are now available for someone looking to perform a fix on their own, Apple doesn’t exactly make it the easiest process. Most customers will need to rent tool kits that are bulky and spread across two different boxes. This is a bit of a pain to receive and ship back to Apple once the repair is complete, and failure to do so will incur several charges.
It’s good to see Apple continue the self-repair program for its latest iPhones, although the company could do more to make the process less onerous. Most customers will likely just choose to take their device to the Genius Bar for repair as the cost of both options is similar, without needing to worry about making an error or losing some of the tools.