If it is a hardware problem, why are they limiting it to 3 years from sale of the iPhone? Do they magically fix themselves after 3 years?
It's a fairly regular timeframe Apple has used for their REP's (repair extension program) and QP's (Quality Programs) A lot of programs are either 2 years or 3 years from Date of Purcahse (DOP), though a handful have made it to 4 or even 5 years. Some REP's/QP's also have specific test results that need to be registered in AST2 (apple Service Toolkit 2, the cloud based diagnostic system) in order to qualify, some are serial number based, etc.
Some other examples
- iPhone 12/12Pro No Sound REP - 3 years from DOP
- iphone 11 Display REP - 2 years from DOP
- iPhone X Touchscreen REP - 3 years from DOP
- iPhone 7 No Service REP - 3 years from DOP
- Series 6 40mm Blank Screen - 2 years from DOP
- Airpod Pro 1st Gen Sound REP - 2 years from DOP
- 15" Macbook Pro 2015 Battery REP - No end date technically but has 1 Top Case per unit limit
- 2016-2019 Macbook Pro + 12" Macbook Butterfly Keyboard - 4 Years from DOP
- 2017 Macbook Pro 2port SSD REP - 3 years from DOP
- 2016 13" Macbook Pro Display REP - 4 Years from DOP
- Plus whole bunch of internally-exclusive ones that didn't have public facing page like Swollen Battery on iPhone being free if within 2 years of DOP or swollen battery on Macbook being free if within 3 years of DOP (both of which are gone now), or the 2018 Macbook Air Logic Board No Power one which had 4 year from DOP limit.
Etc. You get the idea. Having worked under Apples system since roughly 2016, this is basically par for the course and nothing unusual to anyone who is on the receiving end of Apple Supports appointment system.
It sucks since many people come in with issues to this day but there's nothing we can really do about it assuming Apple Phone support doesn't want to issue a CS Code (customer Satisfaction code, one-time exception basically). They sometimes do if you're fairly recently outside of the REP's timeframe or have some other circumstance, but the longer you wait the less likely you are to get one, not to say its guaranteed at all since it is entirely at the discretion of the Tier2 advisor. The biggest slap in the face is that by the time the REP/QP launches
3 years is a very long time to run a repair program. By the time those 3 years are up parts are unlikely to be produced anymore - which I think is probably the reason for the very broad period.
Apple has part availability for either up to 5 years, 7 years, or even 10 years, depending on the product and part type. Anything thats under 5 years from the last time that generation of product was sold new has full part availability (with occasional temporary constraints based of global supply chain). Business as usual basically. Anything over 5 years from the last-sold date is considered Vintage status (dont take the word literally) and will either have no more availability like whole unit replacements (apple watches, ipads, etc), or will have reduced availability of parts for devices that have Same-Unit repairs (which is basically only iPhone and Mac as of writing, everything else is effetively whole unit replacement). Anything 7 years from last-sold date is considered Obsolete status (again, not literally) and there are
no parts or whole-units left at all, with the exception of some Top Cases for some Retina Macbook Pros, which have an oddball clause of having limited availability of Top Cases up to 10 years from last-sold date for whatever reason.
