There’s good news and bad news for iPad repairs following Apple’s announcement

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There's good news and bad news for iPad repairs following Apple's announcement | Removing the screen of the 13-inch iPad Pro

Apple last week announced that iPads have joined the Self Service Repair program, enabling owners and independent repair shops alike to get access to manuals, tools, and parts.

The company said it was excited to expand the program to iPads, but a closer look at the details reveals both good news and bad …

Apple’s Self Service Repair program first launched for iPhone back in 2021, expanded to MacBooks in 2023, and is now available for iPad too. The company said it offers support for iPad Air (M2 and later), iPad Pro (M4), iPad mini (A17 Pro), and iPad (A16).

Jonathan Strange, founder of repair company XiRepair said that hidden within the iPad announcement was some very good news.

Same-day repairs on iPads are now available for the very first time. That’s because Apple has never repaired the devices within stores, so they always had to be shipped out for repair, introducing delays. But larger independent repair shops can now keep enough parts in stock to perform the work on the spot.

Apple may even choose to ship iPads to local repair companies, meaning that AppleCare warranty repairs are completed faster.

“Apple’s new Genuine Parts Distributor Program means that repair shops can get iPad parts overnight (next day) or in some cases same-day with pickup options where before getting parts from Apple often took days for IRP members,” said Strange.

However, there’s bad news too. First, while in theory anyone can now offer iPad repairs, the reality is that the required tools are so expensive that small shops wouldn’t be able to afford them.

“The needed tools for genuine iPad repairs are over $3,000 which would take over 100 iPad repairs just to recoup the costs from,” Strange told me. He said that means that almost no independent repair shops will be able to buy them.

Second, many parts prices are so high that repairs will often make no financial sense.

“I completed an analysis of the parts offered to determine which ones are viable and which aren’t. Nearly 40% of Apple’s genuine parts would cost more than 50% of the retail cost to buy a new device of the same model.”

Displays are the biggest offender here, costing up to $659 even after Apple’s rebate for returning the old part.

You can watch a video on this below, and check out a spreadsheet of iPad parts costs here.