It’s not often that Apple will admit to flaws in its hardware, but the company last week did just that when it announced a new program aimed at iPhone 5 users with “sticky” or non-functional sleep/wake buttons.
As is typically the case when Apple admits fault, it downplayed the widespread nature of the issue in its official statement on the problem:
Apple today launched a program to replace the sleep/wake button on a small percentage of iPhone 5 models where the button may stop working or work intermittently. Apple will offer the service free of charge to iPhone 5 customers with models that exhibit this issue and have a qualifying serial number.
Apple has created a webpage where customers that are affected with the issue can submit their device serial number to initiate the replacement process. Customers are given two options to have their iPhone 5’s sleep/wake button mechanism replaced:
- Take your phone into an Apple Retail Store. It will be sent off for repair and when ready, you’ll be notified by phone or email. Do note that when taking advantage of this option, Apple will have a number of 16GB iPhone 5 loaners on hand that you can use until your phone has been repaired.
- Mail your phone to an Apple Repair Center with a prepaid shipping box for repairs. Once serviced, it will be shipped back to you.
However, for those that are affected by the issue and are still clinging to iOS 6, beware:
If you are running iOS 6, your iPhone will need to be upgraded to iOS 7 after the sleep/wake button mechanism is replaced.
In addition to the free repairs, 9to5Mac has also learned that Apple is offering up to $350 to customers who trade-in a device with a faulty sleep/wake button to purchase a new iPhone. This represents an $80 increase over the usual trade-in value of an iPhone 5 in good condition.