Apple to begin new upgrade program for broken iPhones and screen installations

Apple is gearing up to launch a pair of new retail initiatives centered around the iPhone: an upgraded iPhone trade-in program for iPhones with damaged screens, cameras, or buttons, and a new program that allows Apple Retail Stores to install screen protectors on iPhones.

The Apple Store Reuse and Recycle iPhone trade-in program currently allows a customer to bring in an older iPhone model and trade it in for credit toward the purchase of a new iPhone model. The main exception since the launch of the program is that this does not apply toward older iPhones with cracked displays, or broken cameras and buttons. That’s about to change …

Starting this week, the updated program will allow Apple Stores to give credit for iPhone 5s and iPhone 6/6 Plus units with damaged displays, cameras, and buttons within reason. Apple believes that this new program will encourage new iPhone upgrades versus a standard iPhone screen repair.

In some cases, buying a new iPhone could be cheaper when combining subsidies and financing plans with the credit given for the traded-in device. This makes the new program beneficial to both Apple and customers as it will help Apple sell new phones and let customers save more money on an updated device.

Sources say that the current trade-in values for this program are: $50 for a 5s, $200 for a 6, and $250 for a 6 Plus.

Also involving iPhone displays, all Apple Stores will start offering official plastic screen protector installations on iPhones in the coming weeks. The program began rolling out in select stores today.



Apple has partnered with at least one screen protector maker (Belkin) to bring dedicated screen protector installation machines to the back of stores. Before this new program, Apple Stores were told to not perform screen protector installations on customer iPhones given the possibility of the installation of a third-party product not going smoothly.

If the installation via the new machine results in an error, Apple will offer a free screen protector replacement and re-attempt the installation. Above is a video demonstration of a Belkin screen protector machine that is similar to the ones that Apple will begin putting in its retail stores.