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iPhone 4 Screen Replacement (Cracked)

Hi all,

As you can tell by the direct subject line of my post, yes, my iPhone 4 screen is knackered.

My phone slipped off of my office chair today when I put it down mid-text to read an email. It's about a whole foot off the ground, since I like to low-ride around at work. I picked it up, nonchalant, as you do if it has a small fall, looked at the screen and gasped. I never thought they were that fragile!

Anyhoo, I was wondering how much it would cost for an iPhone 4 screen replacement in GBP from Apple.

I phoned their automated system and the nice robotic girl was very helpful at not being very helpful at all. I never thought I'd try and argue with The Terminator's sister, but I did!

I've decided against insurance since most (if not all companies) are wanting about £100 upfront for any iPhone 4 claim + the monthly premiums. Plus trying to claw any sort of solace out of an insurance company usually takes about 6 months.

I've had a look at a couple of third party repairs companies and mobileease.co.uk seems like one of the best bets thus far, although I don't know if they'd use the fabled and genuine aluminosilicate glass.

I can't seem to find the price for an Apple repair anywhere online. I was even quoted £60 for an iPhone screen via my service provider (Which I think was for a 3G/3GS).

I think my iPhone 4 could of used a replacement screen anyways, as there were some major scratches around my screen and it was hard to use it in direct sunlight.

Thanks in advance for reading my rant,
Jamie.

Optimus-Prime., iOS 4

Posted on Sep 6, 2010 9:11 AM

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Posted on Sep 6, 2010 9:37 AM

Front or rear glass panel? The reason I ask is that just like the original iphone, the new iPhone 4 has the glass touch panel and LCD fused together at the factory and cannot be separated. The only way to repair a damaged iPhone 4 screen is to replace the complete screen assembly. You can NOT replace just the LCD and you can not replace just the Touch Panel on the iPhone 4. The rear panel, however is easy to replace. Here's a place that sells both front & rear panels, with instructions & tools. You will, however, void your warranty doing this yourself or if you have anyone other than Apple do the repair.

http://www.directfix.com/
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Question marked as Best reply

Sep 6, 2010 9:37 AM in response to HarryPothead

Front or rear glass panel? The reason I ask is that just like the original iphone, the new iPhone 4 has the glass touch panel and LCD fused together at the factory and cannot be separated. The only way to repair a damaged iPhone 4 screen is to replace the complete screen assembly. You can NOT replace just the LCD and you can not replace just the Touch Panel on the iPhone 4. The rear panel, however is easy to replace. Here's a place that sells both front & rear panels, with instructions & tools. You will, however, void your warranty doing this yourself or if you have anyone other than Apple do the repair.

http://www.directfix.com/

Sep 6, 2010 10:19 AM in response to wjosten

I should of mentioned this a little earlier, it's the front screen that's smashed. If it was the back I wouldn't be too bothered for the time being because it's not entirely critical to the usage of the phone. It's a pain in the erse that the LCD and screen are literally glued together. It's a great way to make more money out of a repair though.

Thanks for the link mate. I seen that site earlier. Repairing the phone yourself doesn't seem like much of a challenge and it's a bit more cost effective aswell. They're current out of the iPhone 4 LCD + Screen replacement kits.

Jamie.

Sep 6, 2010 11:53 AM in response to HarryPothead

Sorry to hear about the cracked screen, Jamie, mine suffered the same fate 4 days into its tenure. It landed neatly at one of its corners and sent a spider web across the front screen. As others alluded to in the posts, the front costs a lot more than the back, basically the whole phone needs to be replaced. Back screen only costs about 30USD replace, whereas if front screen is cracked, a new phone is in the order, which cost about $199. I brought mine in to the Genius Bar at an Apple Store and was very depressed, and believe it or not, the kind Genius replaced the phone for me, FREE!! You might also want to try that. Skipped the phone lines, those are just robots reading off from the scripts, what a waste of time.

Oct 15, 2010 1:37 PM in response to HarryPothead

Personally, I would continue to fight Apple to replace the screen without charge if you can honestly say it broke from normal use. Way too many folks are reporting this problem and the only independent study I have seen indicates rate of breakage much higher than normal. Love the product but a consumer shouldn't have to pay for something which appears to be caused by faulty engineering. I promise if my screen ever breaks from a six-inch drop you can be number 2 in my class-action suit.

http://vator.tv/news/2010-10-12-report-iphone-4-breaking-82-more-than-3gs

Oct 15, 2010 3:32 PM in response to HarryPothead

Hopefully you have gotten your phone repaired or replaced by now.
There is clearly a problem with the iphone 4. Ten days ago we got an iphone 4 and 2 days later it was accidentally dropped from a height of 6 inches and the screen cracked. We called Apple, went to the store and they replaced it free of charge. The same day ours was replaced a friend put hers down on her desk, screen cracked, they replaced hers too. Today one of my daughters phoned, she dropped her brand new 4, screen cracked and she now has an appointment with Apple.
With 6 kids, we have 12 different Apple products in our household,including 5 phones(3g,3gs and 4's), ipods, ipod touch etc.
Over the years we had a couple problems with our Apple products but nothing has ever cracked or broken like the iphone 4's clearly are. The problems were mostly batteries not holding charges like they did when they were new, no big deal, batteries wearing out is to be expected. Apple always stood behind their products and gave us replacements under warranty. That is the reason we went with the iphones instead of some other manufacturer, Apple stands behind their products.
When my daughter called Apple today one person on the phone actually said to her he had never heard of a problem with the screens breaking. Come on...really? You answer the phone at Apple and you can still say that. I can only imagine how many calls Apple receives on a daily basis about screens cracking on the iphone 4. Google the problem and you know you are not the only one with a cracked screen.
I hope that if enough people talk about the issue on the Apple website, something will eventually be done to fix the problem.
I really don't want to spend the next 2 years stressing about using our phones until our contracts are up and we can get different phones.
Anyone else with a new iphone 4 and a cracked screen may be able to go through their credit card insurance program. We would have been able to make a claim through our Canadian Mastercard insurance program if Apple hadn't given us a new phone or even if they had charged us for a new phone.

Oct 15, 2010 3:36 PM in response to beau707

"Conclusions on iPhone 4 glass problems

With just 4 months of data, it's clear that the iPhone 4 is significantly more prone to physical damage than its predecessor. The aluminosilicate glass seem to crack at least as often as the old glass, and there is now twice as much surface area to break.

Despite this troubling increase, it's important to take the accident rate into perspective. Overall, the iPhone is still a very well constructed device, with a non-accident malfunction rate much lower than most other consumer electronics.

In SquareTrade's previous study comparing smart phone reliability from November 2008, we found iPhones to be far more reliable than Blackberrys and Palm Treos. We will be updating this report soon, and we'll have data on the latest Android phone models. It may yet be seen that even with the double glass, the iPhone has an overall failure rate that is still better than the competition.  "

http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/iphone4-glass-study

Nov 27, 2010 7:24 PM in response to HarryPothead

I HAD to make this my first post!

I was in the same boat as you! Today my iPhone 4 slipped out of my pocket and hit the ground and the front screen cracked. I googled "i dropped my iPhone4" and found tons of links where people say they took their phone the the Genius Bar and got a replacement. So I set an appointment and when I got there I told them, "Look... I dropped my phone, is there anyway I can get a replacement screen"? They guy looks at the phone and says, "You can't replace the screen... and normally apple doesn't cover screens with their warrantee. But I'll give you a pass this time"! I bought my iPhone from that store just over a month ago, so maybe that helps. But set an appointment and go to the store! Let us know how it works out for ya!

Sep 15, 2011 12:58 PM in response to blondie widnes

Blondie,


That's true however they also have a £100 excess on their insurance, which they tried to charge me before they even came to collect the phone to change the £30 back glass on an iPhone4 - I cancelled my insurance and took it to the Genius Bar in Regent Street store, where the adviser kindly changed it for me for free.


It's now 6 months later and I have managed to smash the front-screen this time, even though I now have the phone in a bumper. I have an appointment at the Genius Bar in Reading tomorrow where they can replace it for £130, so I'm already £60 better off than if I'd continued to pay for O2's pointless insurance and claimed for this accident from them.


Based on my exeprience I would recommend anyone to use the Genius Bar service whenever they need it (as they normally have all the parts in-stock) and not to waste their money paying their phone operator for the insurance product. Given that my bills with O2 are £2000-3000 per year, the service I received from them was nothing short of disgraceful compared to Apple, who already have your money for the stuff you buy from them!


Andy

Oct 7, 2011 9:13 AM in response to andymaidenhead

Good to know the price and procedure for replacing the screen, might be a year since the original post but updates like this keep the info current and relevant, also near the top of the google results !


Off the back of this I'll get mine done at the Bristol store as youngest manage to drop and crack it.


Looked at DIY but all the cheap screens dont sound tempting, is the screen going to be as nice? Some reprts of yellow tint, bits missing ete. Only found one apple original screen supplier and that was GBP90 so might as well get it done right!!

iPhone 4 Screen Replacement (Cracked)

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