Roger Fingas
Apple on Friday initiated a free logic board replacement program for some owners of the iPhone 8, admitting that "a very small percentage" of units were shipped out with a manufacturing defect.
Impacted devices were sold between September and March in Australia, China (including Hong Kong and Macau), India, Japan, New Zealand, and the U.S. The company has put up a search tool through which people can screen their phone's serial number.
The issue doesn't affect the iPhone 8 Plus, Apple noted.
Assuming an iPhone is listed as affected, people must then make an appointment at an Apple store or authorized service provider. Alternately owners can contact Apple support directly and arrange for a mail-in, but all three methods involve iPhones being sent to a distant repair center. It's critical to backup a device to iCloud or iTunes before handing it over.
iPhones with the faulty boards may freeze, reboot, or outright fail to turn on.
Malcolm Owen
Andrew O'Hara
William Gallagher
11 Comments
My iPhone 8 freezes all the time, but its serial number is not in the range Apple has designated as problematic. When the phone freezes, it buffers up all the key presses, then spits them all out at once, usually going into SOS mode (which I have to quickly cancel). It’s _super_ annoying. Fortunately, the XS upgrade happens in a month, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
😞 sad 😢......too late just sold my iPhone 8
This came out of nowhere. Apple tech blogs weren’t ragging on this previously, were they? I don’t remember AppleInsider reporting on this. I have an iPhone 8 but no issues at all. I did check my serial number and it’s not in the range. I for one believe Apple when they say it’s a “very small percentage” of devices. And I believe Apple then when they say it is a manufacturing defect, not some design defect.