Should you come home with a new Apple Macbook, iPod, iPhone or iPad with dead pixels on the screen, you’d be right to be pretty peeved. Well before you go demanding a replacement, have a look at what purports to be Apple’s dead pixels policy.

According to what’s allegedly an internal Apple document not supposed to be seen by customers, the company advises its Genius Bar Geniuses that an iMac with a screen 22 inches or larger needs to have 16 dead pixels or more before Apple will replace it. Apple is more forgiving for smaller screens, however, with just one dead pixel on an iPhone or iPod Touch needed for a replacement. Laptops from 11.6 to 15.2 inches, like the Macbook Air or Macbook Pro, are allowed up to seven.

These look like guidelines rather than hard and fast rules, however, with the disclaimer they “can be used in conjunction with information about the display to determine whether a customer’s LCD panel may be suitable for repair or replacement.”

A note at the bottom instructs Apple Store employees to explain to the customer if the number of pixels is within its specifications. It continues: “Further explain that you can replace the product, but the replacement product may have even more anomalies yet still be within specifications, and that Apple will not replace the product again if the number of anomalies in the replacement product is within specifications.”

So if you have a few dead pixels, you might be better off not trying to trade it in for a replacement. Do you think that’s fair? Let us know via the T3 Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Via: BGR