{"id":10366,"date":"2017-11-08T12:45:17","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T20:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/11\/08\/news-4139\/"},"modified":"2017-11-08T12:45:17","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08T20:45:17","slug":"news-4139","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2017\/11\/08\/news-4139\/","title":{"rendered":"The iPhone X’s Back Glass Is Fragile and an Expensive Nightmare to Repair"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credit to Author: Matthew Gault| Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2017 19:54:45 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apple\u2019s $1,000 iPhone X has hit the market and it\u2019s certainly a phone<\/a>. It makes calls, takes pictures of dogs, and is encased in a glass shell so fragile users are almost guaranteed to break it. It\u2019s a beautiful phone, but very delicate. It\u2019s like a Faberg\u00e9 egg<\/a> you can use to tweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe iPhone X is easily the least durable iPhone made yet in my opinion,\u201d Aakshay D Kripalani, CEO of Injured Gadgets\u2014an independent cell phone repair service based out of Georgia\u2014told me via a Facebook message. \u201cEspecially with the entire back being made of glass.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new phone\u2019s glass back is gorgeous, but also makes it vulnerable. Every drop test<\/a> across the web<\/a> has reached the same conclusion<\/a>\u2014Apple\u2019s best phone is also its most fragile<\/a>. <\/p>\n

There are two things to keep in mind when it comes to repairing the iPhone X: The act of repairing the phone\u2019s screen and front glass is about as easy as repairing any other iPhone\u2019s screen, but the new OLED display is so high-tech that it will be prohibitively expensive to repair for at least a while. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/picture>\n
Image: Jason Koebler<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

And the back glass is fragile and extremely difficult to repair. The back glass is connected to the iPhone X\u2019s housing with both glue and tiny welds, meaning there\u2019s unlikely to be a simple way of removing and replacing it anytime soon. <\/p>\n

To put this in perspective: When we embedded with iFixit<\/a> during its iPhone X teardown in Australia, teardown engineer Jeff Suovanen was able to get the back glass off\u2014after spending more than an hour alternately shooting it with canned air and blasting it with heat in an attempt to create a small sliver that he was able to slide a razor blade into. Then he pried. He got the glass off, but had to break off the camera housing and break through tons of tiny little welds holding the glass onto the housing. The glass was removed, but there was no clear path to putting it back together.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/picture>\n
Image: Squaretrade \/ YouTube<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

So what\u2019s an Apple aficionado to do once they shatter their shiny new toy? Well, Apple would love for you to send it into an officially licensed dealer to handle the repair. The problem is that those repairs are often pricey and official dealers aren\u2019t plentiful in some parts of the country<\/a>. <\/p>\n

People living in Nebraska or the Dakotas might have to drive into a location a state away and stay overnight in a hotel only to learn the officially licensed Apple repair shop closest to them has to send their broken phone away to Apple anyway. <\/p>\n

Worse, the price to repair an out of warranty iPhone X is incredible<\/a>. Replacing the iPhone X\u2019s screen will run you $279 at an Apple Store. Because there are no great third-party, aftermarket screens available out of China yet, independent repair companies aren\u2019t likely to be able to compete with that price anytime soon. According to several Chinese suppliers on Facebook\u2014who are advertising their wares in repair groups\u2014replacement front displays are selling wholesale to repair shops for roughly $550.<\/p>\n

\n