Oliver Haslam·

Apple Will Soon Replace Face ID Modules When They Break Instead Of Swapping The Whole iPhone Out

Ever since Apple introduced Face ID with the iPhone X back in 2017 the company has had to replace the entire device when the biometric security hardware failed.

However, that’s about to change according to a new report.

Citing a reliable source and an internal Apple memo, MacRumors says that Apple will soon allow its stores and service providers to swap out the Face ID hardware, allowing it to avoid changing the entire device.

Apple Stores and Apple Authorized Service Providers will be able to use the Apple Service Toolkit diagnostic tool to determine when to perform a same-unit Face ID repair instead of a whole-unit replacement or an “iPhone Rear System” repair. Apple said related documentation and training will be made available at a later date.

The swap out will include all Face ID and front camera modules, the report notes, with Apple touting environment gains as a result of not having to swap an entire device.

Unfortunately the memo did not outline how much a repair of this nature would cost, either to customers who don’t have AppleCare, or to repair centers.

Apple’s iPhones have all shipped with Face ID since the arrival of that iPhone X almost five years ago – except the iPhone SE, a device that continues to use Touch ID and will surely do so if it is refreshed next month. Rumors expect a new 5G iPhone SE to be announced during an event on March 8.

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