Checking the Apple legalese [1] [2] it seems that we can "choose" between Apple One Year Limited Warranty and consumer law [3] which happens to be 6 (England and Wales) or 5 (Scotland) years. Can anyone clarify that for me please? My screen is flickering on certain gradient backgrounds but my 1 year warranty was over before I noticed it.
Reading your first two links makes it seem like you get both, given that your statutory rights aren't affected by Apple's own warranty, so for the coverage for the first or 3 years you can get anything solved via AppleCare, and for the remaining 2 or 3 you'd be making the claim to Apple (if you bought it via their stores or their website) as part of your statutory rights.
In Australia a manufacturer's warranty cannot override your statutory rights. The warranty rights are useful if they are better than your statutory rights though.
Apple can't deny consumer law, so no. In countries like Norway (5 years "right of complaint" for electronics where the manufacturer is obligated to either repair or provide an equivalent product, new or refurbished), Apple has to oblige the consumer, by law.
EU provides 6 years but not from the manufacturer - from the seller. I actually had a problem where Apple told me my manufacturer warranty was up and explained I still had 6 years from the seller (Vodafone) and to go to them. Vodafone pretended the law didn't exist. Eventually Apple were kind enough to replace the device even though they had no obligation to.
I wonder how that applies when you purchase something from an Apple Store, since that means they're both.
I remember seeing a page on the Apple website listing info for extended warranties in EU member countries, which I assume this specific defect in the 2011 Macbooks is covered by.
I've been with almost all UK phone companies (I used to buy a new iPhone each year for dev reasons but run simultaneous 2 year contracts meaning I had to be with two phone companies at a time) and they are all terrible.
Strong consumer protection is one of the core goals of the EU. http://ec.europa.eu/justice/consumer-marketing/index_en.htm: "The Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European treaties since the Single European Act guarantee a high level of consumer protection in the EU. It is also a general objective defined in Article 12 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU."
It isn't 6 years throughout the EU and for every product, though. The EU directive (= the text the EU writes that tells member countries what to achieve through their laws) states (paraphrasing a lot) that consumers may expect a device they buy to be what is advertised and to last as long as a typical device of what is advertised lasts (Business-to-business is different; there, it is more 'buyer beware')
As is typical for EU directives, that isn't very specific (partly for the better, as being specific would mean that such directives need to be revised all the time) and only describes a goal, not how to reach it.
Individual countries will vary in how they translate that into law. Apparently, Norway went for a very strong consumer protection.
6 years seems great an all as the consumer, but I'd imagine the retailers/manufacturers are not just taking this extra burden all on themselves, but likely passing it down the chain to the consumer via higher purchase price, higher contract price, decreased service quality, fewer staffers, or... etc...
Needless to say, I sure wouldn't even want a smart phone from 6 years ago. People get upset at the USA's more-or-less forced upgrades every 2ish years, but that cadence does seem to fit the timing of when I start to feel my phone is not up to par... 2 or 3 newer generations of devices have come out since my purchase, my battery is starting to lose life (usually never covered by any warranty as this is a standard "wear-n-tear" item like car tires). I'd think a 2 or 3 year warranty should suffice in most cases.
>> "Needless to say, I sure wouldn't even want a smart phone from 6 years ago."
It covers all items though, not just smartphones. If I buy a fridge or an oven I expect it last 6 years minimum. Also, I'm regularly surprised by people using very old smartphones (4-5 years).
At this point there's little reason a smartphone couldn't last 6 years. My current device (a Sony Xperia Z3) has a quad-core 2.3GHz processor and 3GB of RAM, my desktop computer 6 years ago was less powerful than the device sitting in my pocket!
Sure, I wouldn't expect to play all the fancy high-end mobile games (like I ever play mobile games...) that come out 6 years from now, but I see absolutely no reason I couldn't continue to use the phone for email, web browsing, facebook, etc.
It is member of EEA [1] though which means they "adopt almost all EU legislation related to the single market, except laws on agriculture and fisheries."
[1] https://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/
[2] https://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/statutoryrights.html
[3] https://www.apple.com/legal/warranty/products/uk-ireland-uni...