iPhone 12's new OLED screen means repairs will cost more than iPhone 11

Cracked iPhone screen (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

Apple has shared the repair costs associated with its new iPhones.
Repairing an iPhone 12 screen will cost more than a similar repair for a broken iPhone 11.
That's all thanks to the new OLED screen that it boasts.

Apple has detailed (opens in new tab) the costs associated with repairing its new iPhones and it isn't great reading for clumsy iPhone 12 owners. As The Verge spotted, repairing an iPhone 12 display will cost $279. That's a hefty increase over the cost if repairing an iPhone 11.

The reason is fairly obvious – iPhone 12 uses an OLED panel, whereas iPhone 11 uses an LCD one. Better panel = more cost. But that's bad news for those who tend to drop their iPhones.

iPhone 12 Repair Costs (Image credit: iMore)

As ever, AppleCare+ might be the way to go for anyone who tends to drop their stuff, with the same repair costing just $29.

For the base iPhone 12, that's a substantial price increase compared to the $199 you'd pay to repair the iPhone 11's screen, likely because it now has an OLED rather than an LCD display. However for the 12 Pro this $279 price is the same as what Apple's charged for screen repairs since 2017's iPhone X. The price of screen repairs covered by AppleCare Plus insurance plans is unchanged at $29.

Thankfully Apple doesn't appear to be charging more for screen replacements based on the inclusion of the Ceramic Guard coating they have. That's a welcome relief indeed!

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.