What is a reasonable price to replace the screen on an iPhone 7+? Being an older iPhone, hopefully it's do-able for under $100 (possible)?
Touch function works, just need to replace the top glass.
Also any opinion on Apple vs third party replacement screen?
Thanks in advance, cheers!
Apple don’t sell parts to third parties (outside of authorised repair centres) and are notoriously stringent with disposed parts (although some disposed parts do get salvaged by employees and on-sold). The screen you get could be great, but could be terrible - these unofficial parts are made to a price point, and you can’t trust any that are advertised as “premium” since it could be the same cheap part.
I would either go with one of the cheapest eBay options, with the expectation that it may need replacing, or just accept the Apple price. No point going anywhere in between, IMO.
I would get it done at Apple. I have used non-genuine screens before and even the expensive ones sometimes don't have polarisation. This means you can have issues looking at them with polarised sunnies.
Apple charges $250. Not worth it for an older phone.
All LCDs "have polarisation" - not sure what you mean. But my original iphone screen is not polarised in the "correct" direction for viewing with polarised sunglasses. (unless I rotate to landscape mode)
The only difference I've noticed between genuine and nongenuine is just a color difference. Using a nongenuine display is like having a white filter with a 10% opacity layer and noticeable light bleed. If you're not fussed about color tone then you can DIY the repair for under $70. You can also just do a glass replacement but that is too much effort and time-consuming.
Thanks all for your comments.
I was thinking getting it done at a shop (the kind you see at shopping centres), would it be much more costly?
Will ask around for sure, just want to get an idea so that I know what's reasonable.
Also, is it not feasible to replace just the glass? Replacing the entire screen assembly feels like it's no longer an Apple iPhone.
You can easily go to the store in shopping center and get it done for less than $100. But the aftermarket screens sometime they are quite cheap quality finish and tend to has issues (mostly with touch sensitivity) after a period of time using it. If you don't want to pay full price with apple, maybe it's good idea to ask for REFURBISH lcd, the color is near identical with the genuine lcd, and it costs you $15-$20 more than aftermarket price but it's worth the extra bucks, and make sure to go through the warranty condition, I know lots of place will try their absolute best to not give you warranty if you have issues later on. I'm working in this industry, take my words as an insider.
Most places can't replace just the glass in 30 minutes, but refurbish screen is the original LCD from genuine broken screen. We just have to work on those broken LCD when we have time. That process needs expensive equipment and lots of time for concentration. Aftermarket screen are all copy quality from glass to LCD, the quality is rubbish. Stay away from aftermarket.
How do we know who sells genuine refurbs and who sells aftermarket but calls it a refurb?
Shop does refurbs screen replacement will stock both type, you can ask them to show you both, the refurbish's LCD screen will have a darker black color, while the aftermarket has slightly light black.
Great info, are you in Sydney? Would you do the repair?
I'm not in Sydney unfortunately. But glad I could help though, cheers.
Most of the time you can't replace just the glass because it's glued to the actual LCD. It's doable but very time consuming and the final result may not be great (due to scratched LCD and leftover glass particles etc).
Replacing the actual screen assembly is likely easier but you'll be stuck with a cheap ish panel.
Still not repaired yet. Maybe at some point I will just sell the phone as is, and let the new owner decide what he/she wants to do.
Out of curiosity, I stopped by a couple of shops in QVB (Sydney), probably not the cheapest:
Happytel
Fone King
Get a decent kit off eBay/Amazon (~$30), usually comes with tools. 2 screws, 2 ribbon cables and sorted. Easily done in 10 mins.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPhone+7+Screen+Replacement/674…