Repairing an iPhone5 screen myself

G

GreyBush

Executive Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2010
Messages
6,499
Reaction score
134
Location
Zululand
I was quoted R1850 to replace a cracked screen on my iPhone 5, but I shopped around and can get the 3 in 1 screen and digitiser for like R500 with a tool kit. I've watched some youtube videos and it doesn't look to difficult, basically just pull the screen out, unplug all the connectors and remove a few screws... I want to do it myself and save a few bucks.

So my question is has anyone done this before and is it as simple as I think it is.

I will be buying the products below.

http://www.eforchina.com/view/12516...--Digitizer-Assembly-for-iPhone-5--Black-.htm

http://www.eforchina.com/view/15893...ts-for-iPhone-5-&-5S-&-5C---iPhone-4-&-4S.htm

Which works out to about $50.
 
There are some videos online that will demonstrate how to do the job, if you're patient and methodical you should be fine.

My concern would be with the parts - I've ordered screen parts before from China and their definition of OEM is not what you may think it is.

Remember the touch screen/digitizer is your primary interface with the phone, if it's not up to scratch you really will not enjoy using the phone. I bought an 'OEM' digitizer for a Nokia Lumia 520 from China, looks great, fits perfectly but didn't perform like the original - when typing an SMS the screen could not keep up with my son's typing speed that he was used to on the original screen. I ended up sourcing an official original screen and the difference in functionality was immediately evident.

Edit: order a tool kit while you're at it - the plastic 'spudgers' and the correct size drivers are invaluable
 
Last edited:
riscbroker said:
There are some videos online that will demonstrate how to do the job, if you're patient and methodical you should be fine.

My concern would be with the parts - I've ordered screen parts before from China and their definition of OEM is not what you may think it is.

Remember the touch screen/digitizer is your primary interface with the phone, if it's not up to scratch you really will not enjoy using the phone. I bought an 'OEM' digitizer for a Nokia Lumia 520 from China, looks great, fits perfectly but didn't perform like the original - when typing an SMS the screen could not keep up with my son's typing speed that he was used to on the original screen. I ended up sourcing an official original screen and the difference in functionality was immediately evident.

Edit: order a tool kit while you're at it - the plastic 'spudgers' and the correct size drivers are invaluable
Click to expand...

Thanks, The reviews do seem positive for the part but I will shop around. The second link in my post is for a tool kit.
 
GreyBush said:
I was quoted R1850 to replace a cracked screen on my iPhone 5, but I shopped around and can get the 3 in 1 screen and digitiser for like R500 with a tool kit. I've watched some youtube videos and it doesn't look to difficult, basically just pull the screen out, unplug all the connectors and remove a few screws... I want to do it myself and save a few bucks.

So my question is has anyone done this before and is it as simple as I think it is.

I will be buying the products below.

http://www.eforchina.com/view/12516...--Digitizer-Assembly-for-iPhone-5--Black-.htm

http://www.eforchina.com/view/15893...ts-for-iPhone-5-&-5S-&-5C---iPhone-4-&-4S.htm

Which works out to about $50.
Click to expand...

I say go for it...

I have repaired many iphones from 3GS, 4 and 4S and can tell you that looks super super simple compared to the 4 and 4S where you needed to take apart the entire phone before you got to the screen.

In all honestly it should take you 5 minutes as its just the two screws on the bottom, three screws holding down the metal plate inside and then disconnecting the three ribbon cables and then just screwing everything back together again.
 
weelzSA said:
I say go for it...

I have repaired many iphones from 3GS, 4 and 4S and can tell you that looks super super simple compared to the 4 and 4S where you needed to take apart the entire phone before you got to the screen.

In all honestly it should take you 5 minutes as its just the two screws on the bottom, three screws holding down the metal plate inside and then disconnecting the three ribbon cables and then just screwing everything back together again.
Click to expand...

Yeah looks pretty simple to me and not too risky either by the looks of it.
 
GreyBush said:
Yeah looks pretty simple to me and not too risky either by the looks of it.
Click to expand...

The only risky part is pulling too hard on the ribbon cables and them getting damaged but that should concern you as the new screen will come with the new ribbon cables so there literally is nothing that can go wrong (famous last words :wtf: ) but in all seriousness i say go for it. you will save alot of cash and gain experience.
 
GreyBush said:
Thanks, The reviews do seem positive for the part but I will shop around. The second link in my post is for a tool kit.
Click to expand...

Tool kit looks good, you'll get a lot of satisfaction from doing the job and you'll save a lot of cash.
 
GreyBush said:
I was quoted R1850 to replace a cracked screen on my iPhone 5, but I shopped around and can get the 3 in 1 screen and digitiser for like R500 with a tool kit. I've watched some youtube videos and it doesn't look to difficult, basically just pull the screen out, unplug all the connectors and remove a few screws... I want to do it myself and save a few bucks.

So my question is has anyone done this before and is it as simple as I think it is.

I will be buying the products below.

http://www.eforchina.com/view/12516...--Digitizer-Assembly-for-iPhone-5--Black-.htm

http://www.eforchina.com/view/15893...ts-for-iPhone-5-&-5S-&-5C---iPhone-4-&-4S.htm

Which works out to about $50.
Click to expand...

I have ordered from ebay before and also local people selling on BidorBuy and they have all worked.
 
This came in today... not such good news, it seems - but maybe you have more luck! Good luck -- keep us posted!
 
Cassady said:
This came in today... not such good news, it seems - but maybe you have more luck! Good luck -- keep us posted!
Click to expand...

That happens when the Digitizer gets mishandled either by seller, during shipment or the user applying pressure incorrectly.

Out of the many iPhone screens I have replaced, this has only happened to me once before (iPhone 4) and it was my own fault. Other than that one time, all other screens worked perfectly - in fact the iPhone 4 is still working perfectly to this day with the replacement screen.
 
The 5 is a *lot* more fiddly than the 4/4s or 3gs and earlier.

I've done 2 replacements on iPhone 5 screens, and if I had a choice, I'd probably outsource it (which is what I eventually did).
 
lsheed_cn said:
The 5 is a *lot* more fiddly than the 4/4s or 3gs and earlier.

I've done 2 replacements on iPhone 5 screens, and if I had a choice, I'd probably outsource it (which is what I eventually did).
Click to expand...

The repair guy I took my wife's iphone 4 to last week feels differently to that.
He said the 5 and 5s is a ton easier to repair than the 4 and 4s was.
 
I don't do them often enough, but I did find the 5 a lot more fiddly.
I've probably done 40 or 50 4/4s screen replacements though.

Don't do that anymore though, was when I was in China.
 
Just an update, the parts arrived this morning and I successfully replaced the screen.

Possibly the most stressful thing I've done in a while, there were a few bits I had to transfer from the old screen to the new, those were really tricky as some were stuck on but I did it... So stoked.

The suction thing was useless since the cracks broke the air gap so I had to break the glass away around my home button to get a grip to pull the screen out
 
Last edited:
GreyBush said:
Just an update, the parts arrived this morning and I successfully replaced the screen.

Possibly the most stressful thing I've done in a while, there were a few bits I had to transfer from the old screen to the new, those were really tricky as some were stuck on but I did it... So stoked.

The suction thing was useless since the cracks broke the air gap so I had to break the glass away around my home button to get a grip to pull the screen out
Click to expand...

Awesome!

How much did it cost you in the end? Scanned the previous posts but didn't see anything about the price, sorry if you already answered this
 
GreyBush said:
Just an update, the parts arrived this morning and I successfully replaced the screen.

Possibly the most stressful thing I've done in a while, there were a few bits I had to transfer from the old screen to the new, those were really tricky as some were stuck on but I did it... So stoked.

The suction thing was useless since the cracks broke the air gap so I had to break the glass away around my home button to get a grip to pull the screen out
Click to expand...

Glad to hear it all worked!!!

What parts exactly did you have to transfer? I remember once I ordered a replacement screen for a 4S and I had to use the old speaker grill as the new screen didn't inlcude that and once had to re-use the home button.
 
weelzSA said:
Glad to hear it all worked!!!

What parts exactly did you have to transfer? I remember once I ordered a replacement screen for a 4S and I had to use the old speaker grill as the new screen didn't inlcude that and once had to re-use the home button.
Click to expand...

The front camera and what I think is the speaker. As well as the home button. Both of these had glued on ribbons. Luckily not a very strong glue so I just wedged it off with my nail and it retained some stickiness
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X