So, it’s easy for us to blow our own trumpet- but it’s quite understandable that you might not want to take our word for it. That’s why we’ll be putting examples of our repairs online- starting with this Apple iPhone 5S being repaired at our store on City Road, St Andrews.

We took all these images while the repair was actually in progress. While we’re not planning on giving away all our hard-earned tips and tricks for reliable repair (we’re nice, but we’re not that nice!), what you see here are all the important stages.

We understand that there’s always the risk of making it look easier and more straightforward than it is. In part, that’s thanks to our technician who has a lot of practice with this sort of thing- having done it day-in, day-out for many years, he knows what to expect and the common pitfalls. He’s also better equipped to deal with problems that weren’t expected!

Even with common repairs like this screen and digitizer replacement, it’s all too easy for the inexperienced repair person to inadvertently break small cables or components. And yes, they can be tiny- that’s what we have a microscope for!

For more general details of the smartphone services we offer in our St Andrews store, see our smartphone repairs page.

Background

This is an Apple iPhone 5S with a broken digitizer (i.e. the touch-sensitive glass at the front). With some Apple products, the digitizer and the LCD are separately-replaceable; however, on the iPhone 5S, the two are bonded together as a single unit. Therefore, in this case, we replace the entire LCD screen and digitizer assembly.

The iPhone 5S with broken digitizer/screen and its replacement (right).

Checking that the iPhone doesn’t have any other faults.

Removing the broken screen/digitizer.

More disassembly work.

Preparing for the installation of the new component.

Fitting the new screen and digitizer.

Verifying that the new screen works.

Finishing touches and making sure everything has been put back in place correctly.

After a series of checks, the new screen and digitizer are in place. The customer can now collect their phone.