In recent months, more and more people have been visiting our St Andrews store to ask what the problem is with their iPhone 6, and if that grey line at the top of the screen is the cause.

Unfortunately, your iPhone probably has “touch disease”, as it’s known in the repair industry.

This can’t be fixed by simply replacing the screen or digitizer itself, because the problem lies with the Touch IC chips (no relation to “Touch ID”) which handle touch processing. It’s widely-accepted that when the phone- and the board inside it- bends, the solder points on those chips are strained to breaking point and your phone stops working.

Although minor twisting of your phone- which we don’t recommend!- might briefly start it working again, this won’t last- the contacts are still broken. Quick-and-easy reflows offered by low-cost repair centres generally won’t last either.

Okay- that’s the bad news over… now the good news.

Touch disease is repairable and we can fix it. Contact us to discuss the detail and arrange a repair, or just bring it direct to either our store.

(Please note- some of the images in this article are branded with our previous identity as “Disc Depot St Andrews”. We are now “Repair St Andrews”- the same company with a new name.)

The Details

You don’t need to read the rest of this article if all you want is your iPhone fixed. However, for those of you who want more details… read on!

Causes – “Bendgate” Strikes Back

As mentioned in the introduction, while it might affect the screen and touch-sensing “digitizer”, the problem is actually with the Touch IC chips.

These handle all your taps and swipes, and there are two of them- “Cumulus” and “Meson”. They’re attached to the circuit board via an array of solder points. (The old-style chip design with “legs” doesn’t provide enough connections for their requirements).

Most in the industry believed- and still believe- that the problem occurs when the phone bends. This in turn bends the board inside and strains the soldered connections to the rigid underside of the Touch IC chips.

This is worse in the iPhone 6 series because it’s more flexible than its predecessors. Remember when it first came out and got a reputation for bending in people’s pockets? Apple partially fixed the issue, but the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are still more prone to flexing than earlier models.

This has probably been made worse by a couple of other design changes. Firstly, they stopped “underfilling” gaps between the soldered connections underneath the chips- something that had provided extra rigidity in the connection- from the iPhone 5S onwards. The iPhone 5S wasn’t prone to bending, which might explain why they got away with it here… and didn’t with the iPhone 6.

Apple also replaced the hard EMI (“electromagnetic interference”) shield with a flexible “sticker” that did the same job. Fine- but the old, rigid shield also cut down on bending.

Add all this together and it’s a problem for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus owners.

The Short-Term Fix

Users often notice that the problem comes and goes- sometimes clearing up, but only for a short while. This is because the minor twisting in general use can push the broken connections back into contact. However, it doesn’t actually fix them, and further twisting can push them out of position again.

Some users even deliberately twist their phones for this reason. We don’t recommend this- and it won’t work in the long term for the same reason.

Over time, the broken surfaces of the connections will oxidise, reducing reliability further.

Apple’s Official Explanation

Apple initially did not acknowledge the existence of “touch disease”. Out-of-warranty owners with the problem were only offered refurbished replacements at the standard rate, and discussion of solutions to the issue was removed from official forums.

In mid-November 2016, Apple indirectly acknowledged touch disease- or something resembling it- in the iPhone 6 Plus with their “Multi-Touch Repair Program”. However, while they’ve acknowledged the symptoms, their explanation of the cause has met with more scepticism.

Apple’s official position is that this happens when the phone has been “dropped multiple times on a hard surface and then incurring further stress on the device“. That first part- about “dropping” the phone- is the part that’s met with scepticism, since it hadn’t been considered a probable cause by independent businesses, and since it’s one that shifts (partial) responsibility onto the owners rather than Apple.

(Note here that Apple don’t- or can’t- claim that dropping the phone is the sole cause).

We also noted personally that while Apple are confidently specific about the part that would (allegedly) be the owner’s responsibility, they are- for some reason- rather more vague on what those “further stresses” might be. Our guess is that it most likely refers to the already-accepted explanation of “stress” caused by bending of the phone. The lack of specifics are probably because anything resembling an acknowledgement that the damage is caused by phone bending would ultimately be seen as Apple’s responsibility due to the design of the iPhone case (etc.)

Ultimately, this means that while Apple has acknowledged the existence of touch disease, they have not- at the time of writing- said anything that could be interpreted as accepting responsibility for the problem. This may change as things develop.

Repair Options

Firstly, we should be clear that if your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus is still in warranty, then- as with any in-warranty device- we recommend that you look at your options under that warranty first and foremost.

If it’s out of warranty, we recommend that you discuss the issue with us, as Apple’s position on this matter might- or might not- change in the coming months. However, as things stand at the time of writing, your options are as follows:-

Apple’s Repair Service

The following is what we have been able to gleam Apple’s page and from discussions within the repair community. It is assumed to be US-centric, and may vary if- and when- it is offered within the UK and EU.

At the time of writing, Apple’s Multi-Touch Repair Program is only for faulty iPhone 6 Plus units and offers a “repair” (see below) for the reduced rate of $149.

However, enquiries have revealed that:

• Apple does not guarantee they’ll repair the board in your phone– it may be swapped for a refurbished unit. This being the case, you should back up your data first (which Apple recommends).
• Apple hasn’t denied that it’s possible these replacement iPhones could contain boards from phones that have already been dropped or twisted, which might already be developing the same problem.
• The design hasn’t been changed, so there’s nothing to prevent the same issue arising on a replacement iPhone 6.
• Other damage to your phone (screen, frame, etc.) automatically disqualifies you from the reduced-rate offer, and you’ll have to pay the regular price for a refurbished replacement (i.e. exactly as is the case at present).
• The “repair” only carries a 90 day warranty.

Our Repair Service

If your iPhone is out of warranty and you’re not happy with Apple’s offer- don’t worry. Our iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus repairs in St Andrews cost a lot less than a new phone, or even a refurbished one. If you would like more details on our approach, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Our Repair- Not Just a Quick Reflow

Other businesses may offer a reflow as the “repair” for touch disease (i.e. heating the device until the solder melts and reconnects). This is generally quick for them, and requires less skill than a full replacement of the chips. Unfortunately, it’s also less to work reliably.

This is because the broken chip contacts tend to oxidise- the chips have to be removed and the surfaces cleaned so that the solder connection is remade properly. If this isn’t done, the melted solder might not connect as strongly at the oxidised surfaces, and it’s likely to fail.

We remove the existing Touch IC chips, clean the board connections, then replace them with entirely new ones (including new BGA solder balls) for the best results. With these, your iPhone stands a far better chance of working reliably in the long term.

Why risk the reliability of your expensive iPhone with a cheap repair? Let us do it properly- Repair St Andrews has been trading since 2001, and is ideally-located for anyone in the Fife area!

Repair Images

Below you can see iPhones we have worked on.

These include some that other stores had already attempted- and failed- to fix. Botched attempts can increase the cost to the customer, since we have to clean or repair someone else’s mess or damage before getting started on the original problem!

In some cases, the additional damage caused by an incompetent technician can push an otherwise fixable device beyond repair.

Why risk it? Bring your phone straight to us!

Our repairs replace both these Touch IC chips.

The faulty chips have now been removed.

We see how tiny and hard to work on the chips are.

Botched repair from elsewhere- chip lifted at edge and three pads missing. We recovered it.

Another rival’s botched attempt- cracked chip and two caps missing.

The shop that originally “fixed” this only replaced one of the two chips, and left four pads missing. Note random bits of solder at top.

Same job as before- note squashed solder balls.

To clean the mess of solder they’d left, we needed to remove eleven caps. As a result, this took around four times longer to fix.