iPhone 5/5S/5C cables shearing internally on small drops - GSM-Forum

mrpld · 09-08-2015, 02:36

I get a lot of customers who have dropped their phones "lightly" (small drop, in cases, no physical exterior damage or broken screen) but the screen cable interconnects have been damaged and there's either partial touch or small amounts of vertical banding on the screens.

Is there a way to help avoid this sort of thing happening as often? I suspect it's probably caused by 3rd party screens having some slop in the chassis fit (ESPECIALLY with the 5C being a polycarbonate case). The sloppy fit means the screen moves around during the drop but since the logic board connects are tightly secured the strain instead becomes focused on the LCD/touch connections in the screen, cracking/shearing them.

Normally this wouldn't be such a problem, except for the fact that 5/5C/5S screens have doubled in price recently and are in short supply.

gyurma85 · 09-11-2015, 12:18

Buy original quality lcds, and it will work even if the front glass cracked...

mrpld · 09-11-2015, 12:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by gyurma85

Buy original quality lcds, and it will work even if the front glass cracked...

This isn't a problem with them cracking, most times the screen doesn't crack at all.

It's a problem with the flex leads taking the strain/shock at the internal joins in the LCD & touch when the phone is dropped, rather than the shock being dissipated elsewhere. The connectors to the PCB can't torque off because they're retained quite firmly by the compression pad and metal retainer plate.

It happens *mostly* on iP5C units because the polycarbonate case flexes a lot more and tends to become looser over a few repairs (where's the 5S/5 you can usually bring back to true acceptably well using things like the gTool corner tool)

I've had a few *original* displays do the same thing, so it's not limited to refurbished or OEM/clones. It's an engineering issue.

hoaxutuyethp · 10-10-2015, 20:38

Tks i have small drops iphone5, no crack screen but on lcd have one black lines from top to bottom. FLEX Cable errors ?. Help me repair. Tks. Sorry my english

kaptanci · 10-11-2015, 07:33

this is realy annoying sometimes. U open the device to repair something else and u have to change the screen at the end and customer not want to pay because it was working well before opened. After a few movement the lcd or digitizer flex or the joints at lcd damages. This happens if the customer changed lcd before and it is bad quality.

09-08-2015, 02:36	#1 (permalink)
mrpld Freak Poster Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Australia Posts: 203 Member: 1817312 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 13	iPhone 5/5S/5C cables shearing internally on small drops I get a lot of customers who have dropped their phones "lightly" (small drop, in cases, no physical exterior damage or broken screen) but the screen cable interconnects have been damaged and there's either partial touch or small amounts of vertical banding on the screens. Is there a way to help avoid this sort of thing happening as often? I suspect it's probably caused by 3rd party screens having some slop in the chassis fit (ESPECIALLY with the 5C being a polycarbonate case). The sloppy fit means the screen moves around during the drop but since the logic board connects are tightly secured the strain instead becomes focused on the LCD/touch connections in the screen, cracking/shearing them. Normally this wouldn't be such a problem, except for the fact that 5/5C/5S screens have doubled in price recently and are in short supply.

09-11-2015, 12:18	#2 (permalink)
gyurma85 Freak Poster Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 106 Member: 2080974 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 12	Buy original quality lcds, and it will work even if the front glass cracked...

10-10-2015, 20:38	#4 (permalink)
hoaxutuyethp Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 3 Member: 872875 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 0	Tks i have small drops iphone5, no crack screen but on lcd have one black lines from top to bottom. FLEX Cable errors ?. Help me repair. Tks. Sorry my english

10-11-2015, 07:33	#5 (permalink)
kaptanci Freak Poster Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Germany Posts: 265 Member: 2289832 Status: Offline Thanks Meter: 48	this is realy annoying sometimes. U open the device to repair something else and u have to change the screen at the end and customer not want to pay because it was working well before opened. After a few movement the lcd or digitizer flex or the joints at lcd damages. This happens if the customer changed lcd before and it is bad quality.