Will Apple replace my phone if it broke due to an update?

Question

I've had my iPhone 5 since September, so about 6 months now. Last week, I was backing up my phone like I do every so often, and I was asked if I wanted to update my phone to the newer, updated version of iOS 7. (I believe it was iOS 7.0.6) Anyway, a couple days later, I noticed that my phone started shutting off randomly. It started happening more and more, and sometimes it wouldn't even turn back on and I would have to do a "hard restart" (holding lock and home button). The only time it didn't happen was when my phone was plugged in, charging. I looked online a bit and similar things have happened to people who have dealt with battery failure or power depletion (?). I saw that restoring it could help, but I did and nothing changed. Just yesterday, now the fourth day that this has been going on, it shut off and has not turned on since then; when plugged in it will occasionally appear with the white screen with the apple logo, like it does when it's being turned on, or if I press the home button it comes up with the red battery indicator, like it does when the battery is dead (there is no way that the battery is dead). Anyway, I contacted Apple support online yesterday, as I'm a college student living on campus, without a car, and they told me to try to restore it again, because that should fix it, but iTunes couldn't even register that it was connected because it wouldn't turn on. The person I talked with suggested I take my phone to an Apple store. Luckily, spring break starts in a couple of days so I will be able to drive the hour to the closest store to me so they can take a look at it.
I'm just really curious if anyone else has had a similar problem, and/or if anyone knows if Apple will replace my phone for me? The screen is cracked, but it's been like that for probably 2-3 months now and I really don't think that has anything to do with it. The person I spoke with suggested that it could have been due to the update, but didn't outright say it. Thanks!

Answer 1

Same exact thing happened with me as well. I talked to someone last night on the chat again, and they told me that a cracked screen does indeed void my warranty. Although, I am 99.999999% positive that the update is what caused the problem, as I said before, the screen has been cracked for nearly 3 months now with no problem. I'm planning on going to the store on Saturday and going to see what they can do. The people I spoke with told me there is some things they can try to do in store, and if those don't work, depending what the problem is they can send it out for repair or replace it. Problem is, I don't have the warranty anymore so it's $269 for a replacement, and I'm assuming the repair price is based on what needs to be repaired. Luckily in your case, as long as there's no cosmetic damages, your warranty is most likely not voided, and they can replace/repair it for no charge.