iPhone 7/Plus Are iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 (non-Plus versions) safe to buy?

[Yebubbleman]

I'm aware that, depending on the issue in question, some Apple Quality Repair Programs (such as for the iPhone 6/6 Plus for Touch Disease and 2007/08 and 2011 15" and 17" MacBook Pro for GPU issues) will not result in repairs that permanently resolve the issues that caused the advent of those repair programs to begin with.

In some cases, said quality repair programs have Apple replacing faulty parts with parts that are not faulty.

In others, such as the ones mentioned above, the faulty parts are replaced with parts that will eventually exhibit the faults due to a design defect.

I'm currently looking at the 4.7" (read: non-Plus) versions of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8.

The iPhone 8 has this quality repair program in effect: https://www.apple.com/support/iphone-8-logic-board-replacement-program/

The iPhone 7 has this quality repair program in effect: https://www.apple.com/support/iphone-7-no-service/

Both necessitate whole logic board repairs. I'm not totally hip to the phone repair scene, but what I've gathered is that, at least the iPhone 7 problem is a quality repair program that may not permanently fix the issue. I don't know this for sure. Given that the number of iPhone 7 phones (ranging from initial launch to February of this year) is such that Apple says "a small number of" as a means of quantifying affected phones instead of the "a very small number of" quantifier it uses on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus quality repair (for models manufactured between launch and that November and the aforementioned iPhone 8 quality repair program, I'm inclined to believe that this is a more widespread problem.

However, I know nothing of what precipitated the iPhone 8 quality repair program.

Are either phones likely to be reliable purchases? Or are the issues that plague these phones to necessitate quality repair programs things that are likely repeatable thereby making them poor buys for people that simply want a reliable iPhone?

Any insight, especially from phone repair junkies and specialists would be much appreciated!

 

[icemantx]

I have an iPhone 7 and just had to have my logic board replaced after just under 2 years of owning it. Apple replaced the logic board and battery free of charge. However, I had to take my phone in twice to have it looked at 6 weeks apart to get them to fix it free. First time they said I needed to buy a replacement for $319 since my warranty was out. Second time they said it was under a quality repair program.

In the 6 weeks between visits I used an old 5s and that was painful. Overall though I have been very happy with my 7 and my wife has not seen any issues with her iPhone 7.

I would think it is a safe bet that Apple has ironed out the issues by this time on both the 8 and 7. Either is still a great option in my view depending on what you need.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I have an iPhone 7 and just had to have my logic board replaced after just under 2 years of owning it. Apple replaced the logic board and battery free of charge. However, I had to take my phone in twice to have it looked at 6 weeks apart to get them to fix it free. First time they said I needed to buy a replacement for $319 since my warranty was out. Second time they said it was under a quality repair program.

In the 6 weeks between visits I used an old 5s and that was painful. Overall though I have been very happy with my 7 and my wife has not seen any issues with her iPhone 7.

I would think it is a safe bet that Apple has ironed out the issues by this time on both the 8 and 7. Either is still a great option in my view depending on what you need.

Both phones are awesome on paper. I guess I'm more wondering if there's any data out there to suggest if either repair program results in a permanent fix or if they only delay the problem from inevitably reoccurring. If it's the latter, then whichever (or both) phones that applies to is enough to make them not awesome in practice. If it's the former, then that's great!

 

[JPack]

iPhone 7 suffers from loop disease.

iPhone 8 is too early to say. Those phones just reached out of warranty status today. We're not going to find out until they're well out of warranty like iPhone 7.

 

[Yebubbleman]

iPhone 7 suffers from loop disease.

I thought the quality repair program for the iPhone 7 was for Qualcomm models that get "No Service" errors. Or are you saying that ON TOP of that, iPhone 7 has Loop Disease.

iPhone 8 is too early to say. Those phones just reached out of warranty status today. We're not going to find out until they're well out of warranty like iPhone 7.

I guess my questions regarding both models, both given their repairs as well as the reports of Loop Disease is:

Are these inherent design flaws that a replacement (presumably with a modified design by Apple) won't resolve? Or is Apple likely readying stocks of iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 units that have rectified these issues thereby making them reliable recommendations to others?

 

[JPack]

I thought the quality repair program for the iPhone 7 was for Qualcomm models that get "No Service" errors. Or are you saying that ON TOP of that, iPhone 7 has Loop Disease.



I guess my questions regarding both models, both given their repairs as well as the reports of Loop Disease is:

Are these inherent design flaws that a replacement (presumably with a modified design by Apple) won't resolve? Or is Apple likely readying stocks of iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 units that have rectified these issues thereby making them reliable recommendations to others?

Loop disease is a separate issue with iPhone 7.

What I've heard from buyback stores:

• iPhone 7: Logic board ("No Service") issues, Loop Disease
• iPhone 7 Plus: Camera issue (OIS), Loop Disease
• iPhone 8: Minor cracks on rear glass

I have no idea if Apple is fixing iPhone 7 with an updated design.

The only data point is with iPhone 6 Touch Disease. Apple didn't update the design until May 2016 to include underfill on the logic board.