Purchasing iPhone abroad

[iKarlCPFC]

If I purchase an iPhone from the US (I live in the UK) would I get the same warranty in the UK?

So if I get an iPhone with a software issue would I be able to go to a UK Apple store and they'll fix it for me?

Or will they not because I didn't purchase the phone in the UK?

 

[Matthew.H]

The warranty only applies in the country of purchase. If the phone became faulty you'd have to take it back to the US to get warranty cover. I think Applecare covers you world wide but I'm not certain on that.

 

[keysofanxiety]

AppleCare is world-wide cover, so you should be fine providing you've got AppleCare on it.

Not 100% if the same applies for the one-year warranty, but I know somebody who got a 13" MacBook Pro a few years ago with just the year warranty on it from the US. It had a dent from transit and the battery was gone as a result. Apple replaced the top case free-of-charge, replaced the battery, and also replaced the US keyboard with a UK.

Though admittedly that sort of thing doesn't happen every day, so I'm not sure if you should take that as gospel

 

[aneftp]

AppleCare is world-wide cover, so you should be fine providing you've got AppleCare on it.

Not 100% if the same applies for the one-year warranty, but I know somebody who got a 13" MacBook Pro a few years ago with just the year warranty on it from the US. It had a dent from transit and the battery was gone as a result. Apple replaced the top case free-of-charge, replaced the battery, and also replaced the US keyboard with a UK.

Though admittedly that sort of thing doesn't happen every day, so I'm not sure if you should take that as gospel

Buying AppleCare would defeat the purpose of many non USA residents who try to buy Apple iPhone at a cheaper exchange rate in USA.

That automatically adds $129 to the cost of the phone.

And many European countries force Apple to have 2 years of warranty service built into a European iPhone sold over there? Forgot which country but there are some with mandatory 2 year warranty for iPhone from Apple.

 

[keysofanxiety]

And many European countries force Apple to have 2 years of warranty service built into a European iPhone sold over there? Forgot which country but there are some with mandatory 2 year warranty for iPhone from Apple.

The EU 2 year warranty law isn't really a warranty. EU 2-year 'warranty' law covers defects present when customer takes delivery. The Apple warranty and AppleCare covers defects present after the customer takes delivery.

So if you want your iPhone repaired in the 2nd year and you don't have AppleCare, it's up to the customer to prove:

a) That this was a manufacturing issue from the date of purchase
b) That the issue is widespread enough to argue that it is a manufacturing defect, otherwise there's no proof that this is a manufacturing defect
c) That the failure was only caused by this manufacturing issue, and not other problems/knocks/scratches/damaged that may have happened, even that may have occured from normal use
d) That if the issue is not widespread or documented, the problem occured from the date of manufacture, which in itself is impossible to prove if the phone didn't fail in the first year.

In most instances, it's an absolute pain. It's like the 6-year EU 'warranty' that people think they have. It's not a warranty. It's consumer law. This means that if you bought a product that had documented manufacturing issues/defects, Apple are obliged to fix these. Like the iPhone 5 batteries, where Apple are now fixing these free of charge - but EU consumer law hasn't helped in this instance, because everybody in the US can get this repaired for free too.

If you can get your iPhone or Mac repaired free-of-charge without AppleCare in the 2nd year under your EU consumer law, it's likely that everybody else can too, because Apple will have issued a product repair program. Otherwise it's very, very hard to prove these sorts of things. And the cost/effort/time to prove it means that it'll cost as much as the darned AppleCare did in the first place.

TL;DR: it's not a 2 year warranty.

 

[abta1]

The 1 year manufacturers warranty is international. Make sure you buy it from an Apple store, you will also have more options in terms of repair if you do. In any case, Apple considers requests on a case by case basis and has on more than one occasion issued a goodwill repair/replacement for me after my 1 year warranty expired. I live in Europe and have bought my last iPhone and two MacBooks from the USA.

 

[aneftp]

The EU 2 year warranty law isn't really a warranty. EU 2-year 'warranty' law covers defects present when customer takes delivery. The Apple warranty and AppleCare covers defects present after the customer takes delivery.

So if you want your iPhone repaired in the 2nd year and you don't have AppleCare, it's up to the customer to prove:

a) That this was a manufacturing issue from the date of purchase
b) That the issue is widespread enough to argue that it is a manufacturing defect, otherwise there's no proof that this is a manufacturing defect
c) That the failure was only caused by this manufacturing issue, and not other problems/knocks/scratches/damaged that may have happened, even that may have occured from normal use
d) That if the issue is not widespread or documented, the problem occured from the date of manufacture, which in itself is impossible to prove if the phone didn't fail in the first year.

In most instances, it's an absolute pain. It's like the 6-year EU 'warranty' that people think they have. It's not a warranty. It's consumer law. This means that if you bought a product that had documented manufacturing issues/defects, Apple are obliged to fix these. Like the iPhone 5 batteries, where Apple are now fixing these free of charge - but EU consumer law hasn't helped in this instance, because everybody in the US can get this repaired for free too.

If you can get your iPhone or Mac repaired free-of-charge without AppleCare in the 2nd year under your EU consumer law, it's likely that everybody else can too, because Apple will have issued a product repair program. Otherwise it's very, very hard to prove these sorts of things. And the cost/effort/time to prove it means that it'll cost as much as the darned AppleCare did in the first place.

TL;DR: it's not a 2 year warranty.

Good to know. Thanks for the explanation! Learn something new every day.

Sounds a lot like how the US auto manufacturer has their standard 3 years/36000 miles warranty and than many have a 10 year "engine" warranty. The real warranty is the first 3 years. And the 10 year engine warranty has so many disclaimers it's hard to claim.

 

[jswillis]

Buying AppleCare would defeat the purpose of many non USA residents who try to buy Apple iPhone at a cheaper exchange rate in USA.

That automatically adds $129 to the cost of the phone.

And many European countries force Apple to have 2 years of warranty service built into a European iPhone sold over there? Forgot which country but there are some with mandatory 2 year warranty for iPhone from Apple.

Although not part of the EU, Turkey is one of the countries where consumers get a 2 year warranty on iPhones. I just purchased a 6s in Izmir for 3099 TL or $1,081.

 

[iMacDragon]

If you can get your iPhone or Mac repaired free-of-charge without AppleCare in the 2nd year under your EU consumer law, it's likely that everybody else can too, because Apple will have issued a product repair program. Otherwise it's very, very hard to prove these sorts of things. And the cost/effort/time to prove it means that it'll cost as much as the darned AppleCare did in the first place.

TL;DR: it's not a 2 year warranty.

I've had an iphone replaced in second year when display just stopped working randomly under EU provision on apple system. I'm not aware of any recalls for such an issue.

 

[keysofanxiety]

I've had an iphone replaced in second year when display just stopped working randomly under EU provision on apple system. I'm not aware of any recalls for such an issue.

There's quite often an exception to the rule as Apple's customer service is great. Apple replaced a heavily damaged top case on my friend's 15" 2011 MacBook Pro free-of-charge. That doesn't mean that I'd tell anybody with a damaged top case that Apple can repair it free of charge.

Apple's EU T&Cs it clearly states what the score is. Just because you've had an experience to the contrary doesn't really mean anything.

And how do you know it was sorted under your 'EU provision'? Did they state that? Give you any paperwork to explain that? Or did you just assume that it was sorted through your EU consumer law because you were out-of-warranty, residing within the EU, and they sorted it out without any questions? There's a big difference.