What is the difference?
What most people don’t realise is that there are some very poorly made replacement iPhone screens being used by repairers, getting a cheap repair is often the worst thing you can do to you phone.
We are going to quickly explain what we know about these screens,
- Original screens are best to be Foxconn factory assembled, this is Apples supplier and they are the best quality & have original Retina LCDs that maybe from varies suppliers LG|Sharp etc, they also have Gorilla glass that is stronger and you’ll find its more responsive to touch, it also has a oleophobic coating that helps repeal fingerprints. Apples screen suppliers don’t sell these screens to the public but they somehow filter into the market.
- There is also screens sold that have all original parts (Retina LCD & Gorilla Glass) but they are installed together by a third party factory, I would use these parts for 4/4S repairs, but Ive found them to be hit and miss with quality and reliability for iPhone 5•5C•5S, so hit and miss that we choose not to use them, they also have oleophobic coating, but often have copy frames that break easy and are not machine glued and can be a nightmare to remove from the phone safely.
- The next best iPhone screens are High copy, these have New Original Retina LCD & Copy Glass, these aren’t bad screens for iPhone 4/4S and i’d happily use them if I know the supplier has a good factory and assembly process, a good High copy screen can also have a oleophobic coating, and it would have a machine glued frame if made well, not 3M taped frames that leave gaps between the glass and frame. We would have a 1% return rate with this High copy screen, but the glass is more prone to break if dropped. We don’t use high copy for iPhone 5•5C•5S as they are unreliable and buggy but may get better in the future.
- The worst screen you can buy is Copy LCD & Copy Glass these are awful, the screen resolution can be bad and they are often poorly assembled, the LCDs flex cables are soft, even the smallest fall can see you get a black screen or lines all through the LCD or even unresponsive touch. They can sometimes have refurbished LCDs that are taken from broken original iPhone screens that repairers from all over the world send back to China to have the glass replaced or some repair centres do it themselves, I guess they would be better than Copy LCDs but we wouldn’t use them by choice. If you are getting a cheap repair this may be the screen you are buying.
