Apple has quietly enacted a new policy on iPhones that have been submerged in liquid according to ifoAppleStore.
Previously, Apple required a user to buy a new iPhone if it had been submerged in a liquid and thus become unusable. No longer. Apple is now allowing customers to trade in there damaged iPhones and purchase a new one for $199, without having to extend there cellular contract, as was previously required.
If you buy a iPhone in this manner, you do not recieve a new iPhone, but a referbished one.
How does Apple know if your iPhone was submerged in water? Well, it turns out that Apple has placed four LSIs (Liquid Submersion Indicators) throughout the device in such places as headset jack, the dock connector, and two somwhere inside the device.
An LSI located in the first generation iPhone
This is purely speculation, but this certainly feels like another way to clear out inventory to make way for a new iPhone.
My phone got damp because I got caught out in the rain. The phone was in my pocket the whole time but it was still enough to “trip the LSI’s” according to Apple’s Concierge. I’ve barely had the phone two months, and they want me to buy one again at the same price I just purchased one for.
It doesn’t sound like they are simply trying to clear out their inventory, it sounds like the 3G is awful vulnerable to water and they are ignoring the problem. I hope the 3GS is better, but either way, I probably won’t be getting it.