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by SOLAR_FIELDS 3028 days ago
YMMV, I've ruined an iPhone5 trying to replace the screen. It's doable, but you have to have a steady hand and a lot of patience.
2 comments

Often the problem with many modern electronics is not doing the repair itself, but getting the thing back together again or getting it back in to working order, because quite often these devices are not designed to be repairable by the consumer.

Witness the widespread use of "security screws", epoxy on chips, cases which can not be opened without breaking them, and explicit warnings that opening the device would void your warranty.

There's also the ever greater miniaturization of components and the ever greater increase in density of parts inside a case. The former often requires microscopes and other specialized equipment to service them, and the latter results in parts not fitting back in the case after you've completed your repair.

It gets even worse when software is involved, where the user is usually at the mercy of the manufacturer to come up with a software update (if they even ever choose to do so) or require some specialized equipment and authorization to even attempt to do their own repair (as is the case with modern automobiles which have so many computers in them).

When I replaced an iPhone5c screen, the notion of selling the glass+LCD was still new. We used a hot gun to delaminate the cracked screen from the glass, then UV cured epoxy to glue the screen back (don't ask me why we had a UV gun). That was a pain.

Now, the glass + digitizer + LCD (or OLED) are sold as one piece. Sure you are "paying for a LCD/OLED" that "isn't broken", but the cost still comes down under $100 (typically) and saves probably 2 hours of labor.