Apple now has a repair program in place to address the so-called “Touch Disease” problem that the iPhone repair community first raised in August. Over time, some iPhone 6 Plus users reported that the touchscreen on the phones became unresponsive, with a flickering gray bar eventually showing up at the top of the screen.
Dubbed Touch Disease by the repair vendor iFixit, the repair was relatively simple, but it required opening up the phone and soldering the two chips that cover the touch responsiveness on the iPhone. Apple Stores and Certified Apple Repair techs didn’t have the equipment for a fix, which led many users paying for more expensive logic board replacements.
Now Apple has an official program in place. On its site, this is how it describes the problem:
Apple has determined that some iPhone 6 Plus devices may exhibit display flickering or Multi-Touch issues after being dropped multiple times on a hard surface and then incurring further stress on the device.
If you’re having that problem and your phone isn’t cracked or broken, Apple says it will repair it for $150.
If you previously paid a higher service fee to replace the logic board for your phone through Apple or an authorized service center, Apple will contact you and provide a reimbursement for the difference between the cost you paid to service the iPhone 6 Plus and the $150 service fee.
This is a worldwide program and Apple says it will cover affected iPhone 6 Plus devices for 5 years after the first retail sale of the unit.
It’s a little curious that repairs related to Touch Disease aren’t covered under the typical Apple warranty. After all, some might say that the problem is ultimately Apple’s fault. Nevertheless, at least the company is giving customers with this unofficial problem an official way to deal with the issue.
[Apple via Mark Gurman]