Major changes afoot for AppleCare

Apple has held an internal meeting for its engineers about forthcoming changes to the company’s AppleCare program.

According to Apple Insider, the meeting was led by Apple vice president Tara Bunch and detailed a plan to conduct more repairs in Apple stores, rather than shipping devices for repairs, leading to potential cost savings of up to $1 billion per year.

“The biggest announcement was the way repairs for iPhones will be handled soon,” an Apple employee says.

“The way it is now, if almost anything is wrong with an iPhone, iPod, or iPad, the entire device is exchanged for a like-new re manufactured (sic) device, whether brought into an apple store or sent in for mail in repair. Now we are starting to actually repair the products and return the same device to the customer.”

Apple stores currently have the tools to replace iPhone speakers, receivers, home buttons, the vibrator motor and battery.

In the US, that will be extended to display replacement from June, while cameras, sleep buttons and logic boards being repaired in-store from July.

If successfully implemented in the US, the company is keen to extend the program to overseas markets, potentially including Australia.