iPad Pro iPad Pro 5th Gen repair nightmare

[Todashi]

So I managed to drop my 5th gen 12.9 inch iPad Pro into a bath full of soapy water a few weeks ago. Yeah, I know. Stupid of me. I plucked it out, wiped it off and it seemed fine. Used it for another two hours after this, but the next morning it was dead.

There is no proper Apple shop in Ireland so I brought it to the main affiliated repair place here and they quoted me a ‘repair cost’ of €950.

Knowing what I know now, I should have bought Applecare. It's 159 euro, which seems like a lot, until you realise that that there is a significant difference between the display panels fitted to the 11 inch vs 12.9 inch iPad Pro models.

A replacement for the 11" costs around €150 exVat because it's an LCD panel. The 12.9" model uses a mini-LED panel and one of those costs €500 ex Vat.

But replacement 12.9 inch mini-LED screens seem to be extremely hard to get and after trying to order one for me for 10 days, the repair shop that currently has this device has just called to say they can’t get one, and can’t give me a time it might take to source one.

This is my fault for bringing the device anywhere near a bath but now I have a very expensive device that’s effectively bricked.

I’m looking for advice on this. Should I risk a second hand screen from ebay and try to do it myself? Or just cut my losses and realise this isn’t going to be repairable at home? Has anyone out there every replaced a 5thgen iPad Pro screen and digitizer?

I'm kind of shocked that a piece of kit this expensive is basically unrepairable, and seems to have no value for parts. Most expensive bath I've ever taken.

 

[ericwn]

I’d file it under lesson learned, unfortunately. Dropping any computer components into a bubble bath is a serious problem and a way to write off that hardware for good.

 

[Todashi]

Yeah. I'm sort of surprised I was that stupid. I was trying to lean it against the end of the tub to watch a movie. I've done it loads of times without a problem, and got complacent. Expensive mistake to make.

I think I subconsciously also didn't think it was a big deal because I'm used to my last couple of iphones being pretty much waterproof. I've filmed in pools and in the sea with them and so I no longer think of water damage as being a thing. Clever, eh?

I do need a new tablet, but I'm not going to buy a new one when it seems a new model will be out next month.

But yeah, the moral of the story is don't use an iPad Pro to watch TV in the bath.

 

[SalisburySam]

I’d likely do the following:
1- try to see how hard it is to get the device open myself, clean out the inside, determine what’s dead, and attempt to find replacements. In reality, I’d have very low expectations of any success at this given few internal moving parts.
2- if the 5th gen still meets your needs, try a refurbished one. Currently there are several on apple.com for about US$959. You’d get a fully-working device with a new battery plus a 1-year Apple warranty.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I’m not convinced that the “only” damage after that would be the display. Liquid damage to the main logic board could make your €500 repair worthless.

Apple’s €950 repair is going to swap the iPad out for a new one with a brand new battery. That doesn’t mean the repair is WORTH €950 mind.. still need to see what replacing the iPad will cost. If it’s a base 128GB model… possibly you could just buy one refurb from Apple for that price. If it’s higher storage, probably you cannot.

I remember reading something about AppleCare+ being available after a “qualifying repair” but don’t recall where that applies (I live in USA so don’t tend to look beyond that). If it’s a higher-capacity iPad and the repair cost is worth it, look into that.

 

[Todashi]

Okay time for an update on this. The iPad is currently with a high street repair shop, and they called a day or two ago to say that they actually have managed to get the existing screen working, so they can 'repair' the ipad and get it back into functional service BUT the FaceID module is damaged beyond repair so I will have an iPad that doesn't have Face ID working.

The cost of this repair is €360, which is still a lot, but is a lot less then either the €950 Apple quoted, or the €600 or so that would have been the cost of a repair using an entirely new screen and digitizer.

I'm not thrilled about this outcome, but I do actually need an iPad for some work applications and before they called to say they could do something with it, I essentially had nothing - a non functional water damaged iPad Pro is basically valueless.

My only choice would be to either pay Apple €950 for a replacement/refurbed model, buy a brand new one or buy a lesser spec, cheaper iPad second hand or from Apple itself.

So the pros of this situation are that later today I will collect a hopefully functional iPad, and even though it's a pricey repair, something in this case is better than nothing.

The cons are that some functionality is damaged beyond repair, and because of that the resale value of the device will be severely limited.

Before this incident I had planned on selling this iPad to partially fund the purchase of an M3 iPad Pro when those come out, but now I don't know what I'll be able to get for this. I'll be lucky to get €500 I'd say.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Does the repair shop guarantee the iPad will work for more than a few months? Sure maybe they can get it working but for how long? Water damaged devices can have unpredictable repair results and future issues are a possibility..

 

[Todashi]

Got the ipad back from the shop yesterday. Appears to be working perfectly, other than Face ID. The shop said it had a damaged motherboard and screen connector. There's a three month warrenty from the shop.

Will it last? I don't know. We'll see. What I will say is that I made a stupid mistake and for a while thought I'd completely destroyed it. So at least now, I have what appears to be a fully functional device, other than that FaceID thing, so I feel pretty lucky to have ANYTHING rather than nothing.