The case of the broken iPhone screen
Joseph: Carlos! How are you? This is Joseph. Tell me.. how did you end up breaking your screen?
Carlos: I was texting someone and then it slipped... I saw it land right on the corner when it hit the floor and hear a dreadful slap sound.
Joseph:
Aw man.. that's terrible luck... Its like you are watching it fall in slow motion and then you hope for the best. It's not right at all is it!
Carlos:
Yeah... It feels terrible, on top of which I use my iPhone all the time...
Joseph:
You're always using it... It sounds like you can't go long without it working...
Carlos:
Yeah, the thing is, I use it for work and stuff.
Joseph:
Ahh yes, completely understandable! Here's the deal. We are not allowed to say that we sell original screens.. still, we can show you how to identify a fake screen from an original one.
In reality Carlos you can put any screen on to your iPhone ... The market here is full of technicians who say: "a screen is a screen" ... so for them, it does not matter then the quality of the parts or anything like that only the quantity of sales and profit.
I ask you: Do you think someone who thinks like that will do a good job changing your screen?
Carlos:
Yeahhh... I really doubt it...
Joseph:
You also expose yourself to various problems when you use a cheap or low quality fake screen. From now on, we're going to call all these screens Fake, do you agree?
13 Dangers you are exposed to with a Fake iPhone screen
#1 -
The screen doesn't fit the iPhone properly.
With an Original screen, when installed it fits perfectly. You won't really notice it has even been changed (besides not being broken any more). If you want to sell you iPhone in the future to buy another one or whatever, it's OK, because your screen is original.
The ones that are not original generally do not fit right at all and have spaces between the house of the iPhone and the screen..
#2 - The glass is thinner.
There are 3 primary parts is most iPhone screens. There's the backlight, the LCD, and the glass.
On the fake screens the glass is super thin.
What does that mean?
If you drop it again, if you squeeze it in your pocket, practically if you look at it wrong, it has a very high probability of breaking.
#3 - The colors are different (Bad image quality).
What does that mean? If I show you two iPhone screens, an original one versus a fake, you'll be able to see the huge difference in colors.
If you are used to the original screen experience, the fake will look like crap to you.
The glass of the fake screens, apart from being weaker, also makes your screen darker due to manufacturing imperfections.
#4 - Problems with touch.
This is another jewel of the fake screens. What's worse than changing your screen and already having touch problems. On top of the fact that you invested your money and time, and in the end it doesn't work well.
In this case the screen responds to your fingers BUT it can take much longer.
When you write a whatsapp message, answer a call, or check your instagram feeds... ughh... good luck, brother.
#5 - Instantly voids the warranty.
This actually.. well, it only applies in case you bought your new iPhone and it still has warranty, but anyway, I should mention it.
#6 - It can damage your phone if it's not installed properly.
This really isn't a joke. There is something called Long Screw Damage.
The truth is we don't know why - (we do know why, but draw your own conclusions) - but inside an iPhone 6 for example, right over the screen connectors, there are 5 screws, all almost the same, and one of them is 0.15 millimeter longer than the rest.
What usually happens is that inexperienced technicians (the ones I told you about before) put those screws in the wrong places and as a result they damage your motherboard in a way that can kill your iPhone.
#7 - The glass comes off (backlight + lcd + glass).
The screen delaminates. This is also very common with fake screens. The glass peels off like its nothing.
They use a glue called HMG (Hot Melt Glue), heat it up and stick the glass to the LCD. At first it works fine, but soon the glass will start to delaminate.
And guess what... when that happens, you need a new one.
All the time we hear: "Only the glass broke but the image is fine, can you change it?" And the answer is NO.
That's not a professional job. It's like you need heart surgery and we give you a band-aid. Really now?
#8 - Viewing Angles
Ever try to glance over at your iPhone while it is on a table next to you? Fake screens have terrible viewing angles. If you look at a fake screen at an angle... colors change, text disappears, it's not bright at all... the only way to see the image is by staring at it while it is under your nose.
#9 - You won't be able to see your iPhone with sunglasses.
Just forget about using your iPhone if you're wearing sunglasses.
What happens is that the fake LCD screen is black in several orientations if you look at it with sunglasses.
Some times vertically, other times horizontally. If you are one of those who wear a lot of sunglasses.. Think before you change your display.
#10 - Flex cables do not have the same resistance and therefore fail.
Since absolutely nothing is original and of good quality with a fake screen, the connectors internally do NOT have the same durability.
Some are harder and break easily, or are too soft and also fail.
#11 - Low resolution
We have seen this time and time again. The fake screens have less pixels. We have even seen some with only 1/2 the pixel count! How? The fake screens have more and more black space between pixel, leaving you with lower and lower quality images...
#12 - iOS updates.
Something very interesting happened with the issue of screens and the iOS update.
Fake displays don't use original LCDs, so Apple has the ability to lock those displays with iOS updates.
That means that when using a fake display, you can end up with an iPhone that has no display, is only half working, or fails to restore the system.
It's very similar to what happened with "Error 53" in which any iPhone with touch id failure would also fail to restore through iTunes.
#13 - Short battery life.
As I mentioned before, since this is not the original iPhone screen, to maintain better contrast, it uses a lot of battery making its poor quality backlight brighter.
The batteries work by charging cycles. The more charge cycles your battery has, the less battery life it will have. 1+1=2
Bonus Problems - Dead Pixels, or dead zones on the screen.
In addition.. It's very common for fake screens to come with dead pixels or artifact and dead zones on the screen!
It's not really a big deal, but if you are going to pay for something... We think it's good to pay for something worthwhile.
Conclusion
That's the thing.. at the end of the day it's your decision.. We simply fulfilled our mission to inform you.
It's up to you to decide whether to invest in an original screen and save yourself a lot
of headaches, or spend your money on the cheaper ones - and well.. you know the consequences.
If you broke your screen and want to repair it, that's only because you want your iPhone alive longer. Whether you want to give it to someone as a present or if you just want to sell it.
Whatever it is. It depends a lot on what you want to do with your iPhone to choose the best strategy.
My advice, always choose the original ones, in the end it's cheaper.
If you decide to spend your money on a cheap one, when you have problems, we'll still wait for you at La Clinica de la Manzana, no hard feelings.
Have an extraordinary day!
TL/DR
1. The screen doesn't fit the iPhone properly.
2. Thinner and fragile glass.
3. The colors are different.
4. Unresponsive or slow Touch.
5. Instantly void your warranty.
6. It can damage your phone if it's not installed properly.
7. Screen delamination where the glass and lcd seperate from the plastic
bezel.
8. Terrible viewing angles.
9. You won't be able to see your iPhone with sunglasses.
10. Flex cables do not have the same resistance and therefore fail.
11. Low resolution due to less pixels.
12. iOS updates may brick your device in the future.
13. Shorter battery life because low quality parts in backlight.