New iPhone 8 and iPhone X- Potential Repair Issues
This is a relatively in-depth article. If you’re not interested in the detail and simply want your iPhone 8 or iPhone X repaired, contact us for further details, phone 01334 47 88 66 or visit our shop at 1 City Road, St Andrews. We also have a Dundee branch.
Introduction
Apple’s September 2017 keynote was the inaugural event for their newly-opened Steve Jobs Theater, a new 1000-seat auditorium at the Apple campus. As the leaks had suggested, there were indeed some interesting announcements, including the iPhone X, iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, a next generation Apple Watch, a 4K Apple TV and last but not least, iOS 11.
Since this article focuses on repair issues, we’ll be concentrating on the two models most likely to concern us, the iPhone 8 (and iPhone 8 Plus) and the iPhone X.
iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus
It had been speculated that the successors to the 7 and 7 Plus would- in a similar manner to the iPhone 6’s successors- be named iPhone 7S and iPhone 7S Plus. In fact, what we got was the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.
Both models include a glass back which supports wireless charging and an improved “All Bionic” processor. They include screens of 4.7″ and 5.5″ respectively, the same size as those in the 6/6S and 6 Plus/6S Plus. Importantly- as we’ll see later- these also use the same IPS LCD display technology. As with iPhones since the 5S, Touch ID remains integrated into the home button.
Home Button Replaceability
One important point to note is that since Touch ID continues to be a part of the home button itself, it’s quite likely that- as happened with the 7 and 7 Plus- it will be impossible for any independent repairers to replace the home button without losing its functionality.
The upshot is that if the button gets damaged (e.g.) when dropped or during a repair, it will have to be sent back to Apple for complete screen replacement. (See our article on home button repair issues for more details).
Concerningly, we’ve had numerous inquiries from people whose home button cracked despite a lack of physical damage to the phone, and many on Apple’s support forum appear to be complaining about this. We strongly suspect Apple will eventually have to offer a repair extenstion programme, so keep an eye on Apple’s “Exchange and Repair Extension Programs” page.
Old-Style LCD on iPhone 8 May Be Good News
On a more upbeat note (from a repair point of view), the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus use the same established IPS LCD technology as older models rather than the iPhone X’s OLED display. This means it’s unlikely to be excessively expensive to obtain replacement screens.
Frequently when screens break on an iPhone, it’s only the front glass that’s damaged- the LCD and touch continue to work. This is because the LCD has a backlight box that tends to absorb some of the shock (softening the blow) when it’s dropped.
As a result, the LCD can be recycled by fitting replacement glass, and resold back into the repair chain. This is likely to keep supply of refurbished parts high and prices down.
Reports are that the 8 and 8 Plus LCD also fits the 7 and 7 Plus and displays a picture (although unfortunately touch doesn’t work in this case due to changes in the digitizer flex). We expect that manufacturers of compatible (“copy”) screens, typically based in China, will have iPhone 8 and 8 Plus versions available within weeks of its launch.
(However, we personally don’t recommend copy screens for reasons we cover in depth in this article).
Will Glass Back Replacement Really Be That Expensive?
Going by experience with several Samsung Galaxy models (i.e. those that already feature easily-broken glass backs), we’re going to guess that back replacements will be a common repair request among iPhone 8 owners.
What might concern owners is how much Apple themselves appear to plan on charging for this. Apple’s repair prices as of mid-September 2017 mention repair charges of £356.44 (iPhone 8) and £406.44 (8 Plus) for all non-screen damage. This may be an oversight and Apple might decide to make an exception for a simple glass replacement. However, at the moment we can only go by what their own price list says, and it looks atrociously expensive!
iPhone 8 launch event publicity shots.
Apple iPhone X
OLED Display and Bye-Bye Home Button
The iPhone X has a very different design to the 8 and 8 Plus, with a 5.8″ edge-to-edge “Super Retina” display and no home button in sight. The display is an OLED rather than LCD- making this Apple’s first device to use that technology- and closely resembles the one Samsung use already in the S8.
Functionality from the missing home button is partially replaced by the use of Face ID to authenticate access to the iPhone X and for Apple Pay. We remain slightly wary about how this will be integrated into iOS and the implications for repairs.
Front Sensors and Cable Repair Issues
The front of the unit includes an array of sensors, as you can see from the accompanying image. These include:-
- Front camera
- Infrared camera
- Flood illuminator
- Proximity sensor
- Ambient light sensor
- Speaker and microphone, and
- Dot projector
iPhone X front sensors as seen during launch at Apple keynote, 12 September 2017.All these will likely feed back through a single flexible cable. If this cable is married to the iPhone as Apple previously did with the home button, it may render it non-replaceable by independent stores. That would be bad news as it would require returning to Apple (and paying whatever they demanded) to have it fixed if the flex cable became damaged.
We’re aware of people who’ve had iPhone 7 screen replacements done elsewhere where the technician has damaged the home button, and the repair has still been accepted. In that case, the phone would still be usable via assistive touch, but in the case of the iPhone X sensor cable getting damaged, the user would stand to lose far more functionality.
On the other side, Apple continuously pointed out that the A11 Bionic CPU has an area dedicated to facial recognition data. This makes it very possible the processor itself contains the secure enclave information, which- if true- would be good news for independent repair services, since the cable would more likely be replaceable.
Availability of Replacement OLED Displays
(Note; Since this article was written, a number of third-party “copy” screens of varying quality have become available. Please see this article at our Dundee website for up-to-date information about these).
Previous experience with (what we believe to be) very similar OLED displays on Samsung Galaxy phones gives us concern regarding the price and availability of replacement “Super Retina” displays for the iPhone X. We expect these to start high and stay high for quite some time after the phone’s launch.
Owners of OLED-based Samsung Galaxy devices often wince when we tell them the replacement cost for the display. This is partly due to the manufacturing cost, and partly due to the lack of refurbished models. With these OLEDs, the display itself (rather than the glass) tends to break when it’s dropped, so there’s little recyclable or recoverable from a broken display, leading to short supply and high prices. In addition, it’s harder for third party manufacturers (typically based in China) to produce “compatible” replacements for these displays, and we don’t expect to see them well into the middle of 2018.
Apple has not (at the time of writing) specified what the screen replacement cost is likely to be, but we expect that it will likely be most cost-effective to go straight to them in the short term. Not that we’re saying it will be cheap- quite the opposite- just that until enough refurbished and copy screens become available, it’s unlikely third party stores will be able to do it much cheaper.
Conclusions
Overall, there are both good and bad aspects relating to the repairability of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X. Smartphone technology is constantly changing, but since it’s our business to keep up with this- something we’ve been doing since the original iPhone launched ten years ago- we’re quite sure we’re up to the challenge!
Visit our St Andrews store if you need your new iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus or iPhone X repaired- if anyone can do it, we can!
