Leaked Service Eligibility Guidelines show how Apple decides whether to repair or replace iPhones

What are the chances of getting a new iPhone if your handset develops some sort of fault? If you take a damaged or troublesome iPhone into an Apple store, you might be told you're eligible for a repair, or you might walk out with a completely new phone. A newly leaked document shows how Apple decides what treatment you receive.

A document known as the "Visual/Mechanical Inspection Guide" has been leaked to Dropbox, and it shows how Apple technicians choose between offering in-warranty repair, out-of-warranty repair, or a replacement phone.

Dating to March this year, the VMI -- as it's known to technicians -- refers to the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7 and 7 Plus, and it reveals just what renders a handset ineligible for repair or replacement. What's not covered? iPhones that have been tampered with, those that have non-Apple batteries, and those which have suffered such catastrophic damage as to render them "destroyed or forcibly separated into multiple pieces."

Speaking to Business Insider, an Apple retail technician said of the VMI: "We have one just like that for all of the products. Used more for the physical inspection and how to determine cost for damage. That's basically half the training for iPhone techs."

Another technician said: "[They're] something we use, but we don't refer to it all that often unless we get some oddball issue. We can normally pick out abnormal issues without using it."

The document reveals that while most cosmetic damage, such as dings, scratches and scuffs, are not eligible for repair, a single hairline crack is.

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