A few days ago, Xiao Lei saw a piece of news on the Internet-the price of M1 MacBook was reduced by 1,500 yuan. This sounds very unreasonable. After all, the M1 version of the MacBook was released in November last year. It has only been three months since this price adjustment is not in line with Apple's usual rhythm.
After reading this news carefully, we discovered that the M1 version of MacBook has not been reduced in price, but the official pirated product has been put on the overseas version of the Apple Store. The 16+512GB version is about 1,500 yuan cheaper than the normally sold version, but it is not available. Domestic sales.
In fact, Apple has been selling official products, the prices are lower than conventional products, and other aspects do not seem to be much different. So, is there really no pitfall in the official product?
Official change, official change is different
For a long time, low-priced Apple products under the banner of "official replacement" and "official conversion" have been active on the market. Although there is only one word difference between these two statements, there is still a big difference. Simply put, the official replacement is a brand new product provided by Apple's official after-sales service to after-sales users.
For a long time in the past, Apple’s after-sales policy pursued “replacement and repair”, and users with equipment problems can replace them with a brand new product for free. Normally, Apple will not take the initiative to sell official replacement phones on the market. Compared to normal sales of Apple products, not replacement officials have charged electric head data cable and other accessories, the serial number will also have differences (for example, changing the official iPhone model numbers usually begin with "N", rather than "the beginning of M").
Apple’s after-sales policy of replacement repairs has suffered a serious blow. A large number of illegal merchants and scalpers used various means to purchase old iPhones at low prices. After deliberately damaged, they defrauded the insurance to obtain a new official iPhone for replacement, which caused Apple to abandon this policy in China. .
As for official flip phones, they are usually sold in Apple's official and distributor channels. Literally understood, it is the refurbished machine officially launched by Apple. Refurbished machines can be said to be a nightmare for consumers in the third-party market, and there are many hidden dangers in the patchwork of products.
However, you can rest assured that the official version is usually more secure in all aspects, and the price is lower than the normal version. Relatively speaking, Apple has more official products than other manufacturers. Xiaolei personally speculates that this may be because Apple's return policy is more relaxed, even if it is activated within 14 days of purchase, it can be returned for no reason, which is unimaginable on other e-commerce platforms.
Of course, these 14-day phones are unlikely to return to normal sales on the market. After refurbishment, they may be their main destination as lower-priced official refurbished products.
The dark hole in the warranty
The price is cheaper than the regular version, and there is no obvious difference in function and appearance. The official flip machine seems to be a good choice. But in fact, the official machine dug a hidden pit in the warranty service that is not easy to be noticed.
The new iPad has a two-year warranty
According to the warranty period, the various electronic devices sold by Apple in the mainland can be basically divided into three categories: one-year warranty, two-year warranty and three-year warranty.
Let me talk about the most special three-year warranty. The main components of the iMac and Mac mini sold by Apple in Zhejiang enjoy a three-year warranty. This is mainly due to Zhejiang’s unique three-guarantee policy-the main components of desktop computers have a three-year warranty. .
One-year warranty is better understood. According to the domestic three-guarantee regulations, a series of electronic devices such as mobile phones, smart watches, earphones, etc., are guaranteed for one year in mainland China, which is also a general after-sales rule in most parts of the world.
In addition, domestic regulatory authorities stipulate that businesses need to provide one-year warranty for computer products and two-year warranty for main components. Among them, the main components usually include screens, chips, etc. This policy can basically be regarded as a computer with a two-year warranty.
As desktop computers or notebooks, iMac and MacBook products naturally belong to the category of computers. There is basically no dispute about this. But the iPad is under the banner of "tablet computer", and the product form is more similar to the enlarged version of the iPhone. Should the warranty period be one year or two years?
In early 2010, when the iPad entered the country, many consumers found that the iPad only has a one-year warranty. However, Apple later responded that:
Apple’s iPad Three Guarantees regulations are implemented in accordance with the country’s three guarantees on microcomputers. For individual users who buy iPad in China, the free warranty period for the iPad host is one year, and the free warranty period for the main parts of the product is two years. Previously, the retail store staff introduced that the main components are only guaranteed for one year. This is purely due to insufficient staff training.
The official iPad only has a one-year warranty
In other words, the Bank of China iPad has the same two-year warranty rights as ordinary computers. But the question is, does the official pirated iPad apply the same warranty policy?
What’s interesting is that although Apple provides a two-year warranty for the Bank of China iPad, the warranty policy will not be displayed directly on the iPad product page. If you want to know more about it, we need to click "Technical Support" on the homepage of Apple’s official website, and then click the page Scroll to the bottom, click "Understand Warranty and Service Options", and then you can see in the "Hardware Warranty Policy for Apple Products in Mainland China":
The entire iPad and its accessories have a 1-year warranty from the date of original purchase.
The main components enjoy a 2-year warranty. The main components refer to the motherboard (MLB), memory, hard disk (HDD/SSD), display (LCD) and AC power adapter.
But Apple did not specify whether the refurbished iPad will also enjoy these rights. On the corresponding page of the official pirated iPad, Apple stated that it includes a "1-year warranty (same as the new iPad)."
Unfortunately, from the actual situation, the refurbished version of the iPad does not have the right to a two-year warranty for the main components. According to Apple, the official pirated iPad is a second-hand product and does not implement the domestic three guarantees policy. According to feedback from netizens, the official pirated iPad box does not include a warranty card, and only has a one-year warranty.
In addition, according to know almost user Sunda Long's own experiences to share, the official replica of the iPad only enjoy one-year warranty, the purchase of more than one year of official turn iPad is Apple Store after-sales insurance coverage. What makes people feel puzzled is that Apple's official customer service said that the official iPad enjoys the same after-sales rights as the new iPad. But judging from the actual implementation of the policy, Apple stores have higher authority.
Picture from Zhihu
After consulting the online customer service on Apple's official website, Xiao Lei got the answer: "The official iPad enjoys the same after-sales rights." It must be admitted that Apple's official after-sales policy for official products has been contradictory, which can easily mislead users.
Another point to note is that, in accordance with the three guarantees policy, after the product is renewed due to after-sales problems, the warranty period of the new product is recalculated. In other words, if an iPad has a quality problem and is renewed, the new product that the user gets will still have a two-year warranty; however, if the official iPad faces a similar situation, the newly calculated warranty period is only three months.
How to buy the most cost-effective?
At this point, we can draw a conclusion: Although official products enjoy a certain discount in price, the after-sales of products such as iPad and Mac will also shrink. If you are more concerned about after-sale protection, it is obviously more cost-effective to buy a brand new product.
More importantly, in addition to Apple's official channels, the after-sales benefits of brand-new Apple products started from third-party e-commerce platforms will not be discounted (except there is no 14-day unreasonable return), and the price is more attractive.
Apple's official website in the sale of official turn iPad Air 3 64GB LTE version, for example, is priced at 4249 yuan; and Jingdong import of the same product (new unofficial translation), priced at 4299 yuan. Although the latter is 50 yuan more expensive, it is obviously more valuable to buy after a year of sales.
In addition, in the tens of billions of subsidies, double 11 and other more powerful discount activities, the price of Apple products in third-party channels will often be lower.
Under consideration of various factors, Apple's official store has indeed become more and more tasteless. Perhaps Apple itself needs to make some changes
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