Contracts between authorized Russian service centers and Apple end at the end of March and the corporation will not renew them. This was reported to Izvestia by a source in one of the IT distributors, two more interlocutors in a large retail company confirmed the information.
“Apple will not renew contracts with Russian Authorized Service Centers (ASCs). Instead, the company will conclude a contract for warranty repairs with one of the foreign partners. Thus, the corporation will no longer interact directly with Russian ASCs, ”said Izvestia’s source in a large IT distributor.
According to another interlocutor, such a scheme is needed in order to import replacement iPhones into service centers. Now US sanctions prohibit the supply of smartphones to Russia costing more than $300.
The Russian Apple ASCs will not be left completely without work, the interlocutors of Izvestia are sure.
“New [иностранная] the company authorized by Apple to work with Russia will assume all obligations to provide warranty support. And then this company will conclude agreements with Russian authorized centers, where the Russian user will be able, as before, to apply for warranty support. It’s just another legal entity that will directly carry out the repairs,” said Anna Sarbukova, leading legal adviser at the EBR law firm.
Thus, the main function of the Russian ASCs is likely to be limited to the role of receiving goods in need of repair and issuing them after servicing performed abroad.s