Where to buy genuine Apple iphone screens?

[pudding]

Bit of a long shot but does anyone know where to get a proper Apple screen for an iphone 7?

Seen loads on ebay but they’re either all ‘refurbished’, or crap copies for £30.

[Dan_FR]

I've used this company many times for parts and only ever had one issue (with a battery), which they sorted under warranty without quibble. Replaced quite a few iPhone screens for friends and family. Not sure if they are 100% genuine but they are definitely a lot better than the £20-30 eBay jobbies

https://www.replacebase.co.uk/iphone-7-parts/?___store=default&filterparttype=70

[pudding]

Cheers Dan.  I ordered one of their 'OEM' screens at £75, so I hopefully that is close to factory quality!

The reason I want OEM is because I did a screen on a iPhone 5S a couple of years ago using a generic brand from Amazon, for around the £40 mark.  It was complete garbage!

Apple want £156 to replace a screen, and they will only do it in store once you've made an appointment with a "Genius", or via post in X days.   Sod that.  Can do it myself!

[Dan_FR]

Let us know once it arrives - a comparison of both would be good i.e. the markings or any differences. I've never actually checked or compared manufacturer, markings etc... just thrown the new one in.

The eBay ones are awful, you can visually see the pixels on the screen and the display quality is garbage.... not crisp, strange colours etc. Had so many that were DOA too which is frustrating after having built the phone back up. I now test them once I've connected the display & touch ribbons to avoid that frustration

[pudding]

Well I stuck it in and all I can say is - pay Apple to do it!

The 'OEM' screen isn't OEM, the colour palette is completely wrong, the digitizer is inconsistent and the home button doesn't work once fitted to the new screen - although I believe a lot of people have had this issue, which is reported to be a deliberate tactic from Apple to prevent people from repairing their own property themselves - and lastly, the 'OEM' screen doesn't clip back into the casing properly, so sits proud on one edge.   

Also worthy of note - On the iphone 7 onwards, the screen is bonded in with a butyl rubber strip, which you don't get with a new screen (obviously!), so it is no longer splash proof with a non apple screen.

Oh and those £2.49 tool kits are complete garbage, don't even go there. The star tool bit doesn't even fit the screws    Pay a bit extra and get the proper metal tools and metal pry tool from higher end repairers.

Oh and be careful removing the old screen if it's chipped on the edge.  I got a nice shard of glass flick up into my eye 

Once again, the old 'Buy cheap, buy twice' mantra has to be trotted out here.   I've done quite a few iPhone 5 / 5S and one or two 6 screens, but the 7 onwards is a different bag, and a whole lot more fragile.

[colesey]

i have had two experiences with very different outcomes. The first was an ebay ‘expert’ who replaced the screen on my 6 and no end of issues arose afterwards, rendering it junk. The other was iSmash who replaced the screen on my daughter’s SE last October and everything has been fine since. Whilst not cheap, it seems to be factory quality but much cheaper than the Apple store and offered a quick turnaround.

[Dan_FR]

That's awful - I'm sorry I recommended them. I'd be sending it back for a refund in that case. Sounds like it's not better/different to the cheap ones for half the price

[pudding]

'iSmash' 

It's fine Dan, not your fault in the slightest.  It's always a gamble repairing these intricate and extremely fragile things, and one I was prepared to take.   

It's amazing they last as long as they do, 'out in the field'.  I hear the iPhone X is incredibly fragile and screen replacements on those are horrendous money.  I'm sure they could be made stronger, but like cars, they don't want you to own one forever.

Anyway, another thing to chalk up to experience and move on     For now, I'm using the 'Assistive touch' in the Accessibility options to get around the loss of the home button. 

[v4rley]

@Pudding is there an option to use your original home button?

[pudding]

You have to transfer the original home button to the new screen anyway.  No screens come with a new button, so must be paired to the processor for security reasons.  A lot of people have found it no longer works when you move it to a new screen, but obviously Apple stores will have a special process.  I bet they have complete assemblies and resync the home button.  A bit like the immobilizer chip in cars.

When you boot the phone up again, it takes forever and then you get a message saying the home button is disabled.

It seems to me the iPhone 7 onwards have become cheaply made and flimsy (are we surprised?!).   I can't tell you how it easy it is to rip a ribbon cable on the 7!!   I did that removing the old screen and didn't even feel it rip 

By comparison, the old 5 and 5s are built like tanks. 

[GTIEagles]

From what I have learnt when trying to source a genuine screen is that the genuine screens are only available from Apple or an approved Apple repair shop. The only place I know of that actually sell genuine refurbished screens is this place: https://shop.mendmyi.com/ but I couldn't see any iPhone 7 screens listed.

You might find this article useful: https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/iphone/how-fix-cracked-iphone-or-ipad-screen-3599252/

[pudding]

Thanks mate, I did have a look around the net at some guides and youtube clips before cracking out the tools.   I did consider the refurbed ones but wanted something better than 12 months warranty.  I fell foul of the 'OEM' like quality sales pitch which is very prevalent these days.  As with cars, there is no such thing as OEM like, it's either OEM or it isn't.

It seems Apple are purposely restricting supply of the factory screens to authorised repairers only, such as Carphone Warehouse, Apple stores etc etc.   Whilst the screen I got from Replacebase 'works' and is no doubt better than the cheap £30 ones, you can immediately see all of the icons just looked bleached out, and the deep black of the original screen is replaced with that LCD backlight washout you get on cheap TVs.

I think the worst thing is the loss of the home button.  All of my logins were fingerprint authentication!!     It's like going back in time.  You don't realise how quickly you adapt to progress until you lose it.  Still, thanks to the Accessibility functions, the phone is at least usable in the meantime.

[pas6al]

I usually use smash it, however dont know if its genuine or not