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iPhone 5 or earlier Could Apple upgrade me to a 5S via Express Replacement for my iPhone 5?

TranceJD

TranceJD

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 2, 2012
90
52
Ireland, Europe
Hi everyone,

I have an iPhone 5 which has AppleCare that expires on the 30th September.

Back in December 2013, I was having a serve issue with my display. The AppleCare guys on the phone told me that I could do an express replacement where they would send me a brand new iPhone 5. I opted for this and was very happy.

Now, I am having an issue with my camera. I am getting pink lines when I am using the camera (well known issue with iPhone 5, google it). I am just wondering, if I was to go for an Express Replacement, could Apple possibly upgrade me to an iPhone 5S??

I am thinking this because it's a considerable amount of time since Apple discontinued the iPhone 5.

Any thoughts?

A friend of mine visited an Apple Store with faulty 4S and they upgraded him to a 5S, no questions asked.

Unfortunately I am no where near an Apple Store :(
 
It has hardly been a considerable amount of time since they officially discontinued the iPhone 5 for retail sale. They were still making replacement original iPhone for many years after it was officially discontinued.
 
I think they still have iPhone 5 refurbs hanging around, so I'd say its not likely.
 
No way, they have plenty of iphone 5 replacements, iphones still on iOS 6. If they don't have it in the store, they'll ask another store to ship it.
 
TranceJD said:
if I was to go for an Express Replacement, could Apple possibly upgrade me to an iPhone 5S??
Click to expand...

in most areas, 2 years wouldn't be 'considerable time' in regards to forcing a company to upgrade you to a better model, if the laws ever require it.

so could they, maybe but likely not. Will they, hell no unless you are lucky enough to live in one of the few areas that does, by law, require it since said model is no longer on sale.

i know here in California its not a chance in hell until at least 5 years after the item is no longer for sale.
 
My iPhone 5 black 64GB with a receiver audio problem was replaced with an iPhone 5 black 64GB. It wasn't IDENTICAL, though; the new one supports AWS bands on UMTS which might be helpful if I switched to T-Mobile.

Sorry to ruin your hopes and dreams. :)

I even asked the guy if I could pay a little money and get a 5S as a replacement. He pointed out that you can't do that because otherwise people will purposefully break their older phones to upgrade to newer ones. It makes sense.
 
TranceJD said:
A friend of mine visited an Apple Store with faulty 4S and they upgraded him to a 5S, no questions asked.
Click to expand...
Apple is obligated only to replace what you have. Nothing more.

I can't say why Apple would do this in your friends case, except that perhaps there was more to it than you know or are telling us? Apple is not known to do this just because.

There are people that have gotten a newer model out of Apple, but those cases have usually been a result of a long string of problems with their original phone and replacements. One person I know got a 5s as a replacement for his 5c. But that was only because he went through like five or six iPhone replacements and ended up talking to someone in Applecare that could do this for him.

In any case, as has been stated, Apple has plenty of stock to identically replace the model you have. They have no need to give you a better model as a replacement.

For some reason this seems to be some sort of hope that's held by people. Apple kills it every time.
 
Everyone, thank you so much for the great replies.

They've all been very helpful. Thanks for the information!

I'll give them a call during the coming days and keep you up to date. But as most people said, it'll likely be like-for-like regarding the replacement unit.

Thanks again!!
 
No, no. Probably not.

I also doubt they have iPhone 5's because it was discontinued so...

Check with apple. :apple:
 
Given that Apple still offers out of warranty replacements of the 5 for $269, I think there is a very, very small chance you might get a 5S as a replacement. As others before have said, you would need a history of problems and insufficient problem resolution to get to the point where Apple offers you a different model entirely.
 
JuanBadApple said:
No, no. Probably not.

I also doubt they have iPhone 5's because it was discontinued so...

Check with apple. :apple:
Click to expand...
Uhm. Did you miss the part about Apple having replacement phones for the original iPhone until just recently?

I guarantee you that Apple has an iPhone 5 to replace an iPhone 5. Just because it's discontinued doesn't magically mean the supply immediately dries up.
 
I received a 5S from apple after a very very long "battle" with horrific iPhone 5 replacements. Took about 45 days, and Apple kept sending me iPhone 5 after 5 with problems.

One iPhone 5 didn't turn on.

new replacement came and it said it could not be activated and to return it.

The next did not connect to wifi. Finally after 3 more of 6 replacements I asked to speak to engineering.

Engineering called me and they took note of every single serial number and model number of the 6 replacements. He called me the next day and told me all 6 replacements that were faulty were made in the exact same factory and week in China.

On a 3 way call with engineer, and a senior adviser, they upgraded me to a 5S. It was a brand new in box phone also unlocked since I bought my 5 unlocked. Ive had my 5S since Feb now. If anyone wants proof or has questions message me. I kept every single email (about 50) of the entire process.

Ill never leave Apple after this.
 
eyoungren said:
Uhm. Did you miss the part about Apple having replacement phones for the original iPhone until just recently?

I guarantee you that Apple has an iPhone 5 to replace an iPhone 5. Just because it's discontinued doesn't magically mean the supply immediately dries up.
Click to expand...

No, I didn't. I didn't know that apple carried it till now.
And I wouldn't check because 1) I don't have an original iphone, 2) I don't care that much.

I've never heard of this, so I'm sorry I guess.
 
Last edited:
TranceJD said:
Hi everyone,

I have an iPhone 5 which has AppleCare that expires on the 30th September.

Back in December 2013, I was having a serve issue with my display. The AppleCare guys on the phone told me that I could do an express replacement where they would send me a brand new iPhone 5. I opted for this and was very happy.

Now, I am having an issue with my camera. I am getting pink lines when I am using the camera (well known issue with iPhone 5, google it). I am just wondering, if I was to go for an Express Replacement, could Apple possibly upgrade me to an iPhone 5S??

I am thinking this because it's a considerable amount of time since Apple discontinued the iPhone 5.

Any thoughts?

A friend of mine visited an Apple Store with faulty 4S and they upgraded him to a 5S, no questions asked.

Unfortunately I am no where near an Apple Store :(
Click to expand...

I have experience in a similar situation.
However as eyoungren has already touched on... I had a launch day white iPhone 5c. It took a little over 4 weeks for my first problems to occur. So I took it to the Apple store and they gave me a white box replacement. With this replacement it took a little under 3 weeks for the same set of problems to occur. Therefore, I proceeded to take it back to the Genius Bar. At which time I received another replacement. Around the 1st of December this one starting having a different set of problems. So ONCE again I took it to the Store and received another replacement. This one lasted 6 days before it wouldn't even make a cal or send a text or use data... This time I called AppleCare and talked to them. I talked to a supervisor who sympathized with me and this time he sent me a brand new in box iPhone 5c. Well by this time I had gotten fed up with it all and I emailed Tim Cook.

After emailing Tim cook I proceeded to get a call from a guy named Michael Proctor from the "Apple Executive Offices." I told him I did not want another 5c that I have been wasting my time for far too long. At this time he told me it couldn't happen. He said that he was in charge of my case and would be handling it from now on. Therefore if I had a problem I needed to call him. Well this new iPhone 5c proceeded to have a whole new set of problems with speakers going out and all kinds of other stuff. I proceeded to call Mr Porter back and this time I only wanted a different phone. I was only asking to be given an iPhone 5 instead of the 5c. At first he said he could not do it and all that. I told him I'm not happy with the resolution and wanted a different one or to talk to someone else. He said I'll get back to you in under 2 hours. So one and a half hours later he called me and told me that all he could do was upgrade me to an iPhone 5s for no cost and put all of this behind us. Since I have had the iPhone 5s I have not had one issue out of it.

So the jist of this story is simple... Apple in no way is obligated to upgrade you at ANY time. They was not obligated to do it for me ... They just wanted me to be happy. I am probably one of the very few people in the USA that has a "Sprint" iPhone that is unlocked. I can put an AT&T SIM into my phone and it works. Yes that's true. However, I from previous experience DO NOT believe they will upgrade your iphone 5.

----------
AndrewR23 said:
I received a 5S from apple after a very very long "battle" with horrific iPhone 5 replacements. Took about 45 days, and Apple kept sending me iPhone 5 after 5 with problems.

One iPhone 5 didn't turn on.

new replacement came and it said it could not be activated and to return it.

The next did not connect to wifi. Finally after 3 more of 6 replacements I asked to speak to engineering.

Engineering called me and they took note of every single serial number and model number of the 6 replacements. He called me the next day and told me all 6 replacements that were faulty were made in the exact same factory and week in China.

On a 3 way call with engineer, and a senior adviser, they upgraded me to a 5S. It was a brand new in box phone also unlocked since I bought my 5 unlocked. Ive had my 5S since Feb now. If anyone wants proof or has questions message me. I kept every single email (about 50) of the entire process.

Ill never leave Apple after this.
Click to expand...

I know that this is possible, but you have to go through numerous replacements. You went through 6. I had to go through 6 as well before they said ok. So while it's possible and I know that, they are NOT obligated in no way to do so.
 
JuanBadApple said:
No, I didn't. I didn't know that apple carried it till now.
And I wouldn't check because 1) I don't have an original iphone, 2) I don't care that much.

I've never heard of this, so I'm sorry I guess.
Click to expand...
No worries man, it's cool. Just pointing out that Apple will always have stock to replace your iPhone. They plan for warranty and out of warranty replacements so they make enough to always cover it. Even if it's years later.
 
eyoungren said:
No worries man, it's cool. Just pointing out that Apple will always have stock to replace your iPhone. They plan for warranty and out of warranty replacements so they make enough to always cover it. Even if it's years later.
Click to expand...

Every year its the same bro.
People think cause the iphone 5 is 1-2 years old they don't have any and will give them an upgrade 5S or the latest model instead.
NOT:D
They have iphone 4 and 3GS models still available for out of warranty replacements and plenty of other models with many different storage capacity and colors available.
 
Applejuiced said:
Every year its the same bro.
People think cause the iphone 5 is 1-2 years old they don't have any and will give them an upgrade 5S or the latest model instead.
NOT:D
They have iphone 4 and 3GS models still available for out of warranty replacements and plenty of other models with many different storage capacity and colors available.
Click to expand...
Yep, I agree. I guess maybe it might be because this can happen with the carriers that people think it will happen with Apple. I don't know.

But, it doesn't benefit Apple's bottom line to hand out upgrades as replacements. Everyone would break their old phones close to the end of their contracts. That would cost Apple.

Just not going to happen.
 
I guess it's possible, but like playing the lottery, not one of those things you can, or should count on. Just treat it as a nice little bonus if it does happen, I guess. :)
 
I have it in my mind that Apple keep spares/replacements for 7 years.

As mentioned already, they were still repairing/replacing original (2G) iPhones (which presumably stopped in June 2014?).
 
Friend of mine had issues with here 5 and got a 5C as a replacement when this particular store ran out of the 5 on that day . ;)
 
ABC5S said:
Friend of mine had issues with here 5 and got a 5C as a replacement when this particular store ran out of the 5 on that day . ;)
Click to expand...

I don't know, that sounds like a downgrade to me.
I would rather take an iphone 5 than a plastic 5C.

localboy28 said:
Wait a few weeks and they'll swap your 5 for the new iPhone 6
Click to expand...

Lol:D
You know some will actually believe that probably:p
 
AndrewR23 said:
I received a 5S from apple after a very very long "battle" with horrific iPhone 5 replacements. Took about 45 days, and Apple kept sending me iPhone 5 after 5 with problems.

One iPhone 5 didn't turn on.

new replacement came and it said it could not be activated and to return it.

The next did not connect to wifi. Finally after 3 more of 6 replacements I asked to speak to engineering.

Engineering called me and they took note of every single serial number and model number of the 6 replacements. He called me the next day and told me all 6 replacements that were faulty were made in the exact same factory and week in China.

On a 3 way call with engineer, and a senior adviser, they upgraded me to a 5S. It was a brand new in box phone also unlocked since I bought my 5 unlocked. Ive had my 5S since Feb now. If anyone wants proof or has questions message me. I kept every single email (about 50) of the entire process.

Ill never leave Apple after this.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
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