Apple Paying for iMac Hinge Repairs →

Joe Rossignol at MacRumors:

Apple has internally announced it will issue a refund to customers who previously paid for an iMac display hinge replacement or repair, according to a recently updated service document obtained by MacRumors.

[…]

Apple’s service document acknowledges some 27-inch iMacs shipped between December 2012 and July 2014 may be affected by an issue with the display hinge, resulting in the screen no longer adjusting and continuously tilting forward. The issue appears to be limited to late 2012 and late 2013 models in particular.

My understanding is that this repair is usually about $70 here in the U.S., at least for 27-inch models.1 That price seems pretty cheap to me, as the repair is quite complicated. The display has to be removed, then the entire computer has to be scooped out of the case to access the hinge.

This photo from iFixit’s teardown of the computer shows the hinge on the inside of the back case:

Late 2013 iMac

The problem seems to stem from the fact that some of the components in the hinge are made of plastic, and sometimes fail after years of heating and cooling repeatedly. I don’t know if the service parts used in the repair are any better, but I’m glad Apple is making it right for customers with the issue. Drooping iMacs are no fun for anyone.


  1. I’ve heard that some users have had the repair paid for by Apple on out of warranty machines, but clearly that hasn’t been universally applied.