where can i get my lcd screen fixed made in china

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Alibaba.com offers 91,251 lcd screen repair products. such as machinery repair shops, manufacturing plant, and retail. You can also choose from 1 year, 6 months, and 2 years. As well as from provided. And whether lcd screen repair is gray, black, or white.

Alibaba.com offers 34,147 phone screen repair products. such as machinery repair shops, retail, and home use. You can also choose from apple iphone, samsung, and oppo. As well as from 1 year, 3 months, and 18 months. And whether phone screen repair is provided.

Mandy, ETS is obviously a company that you are connected to and this could easily be taken for spam. I think we can make an exception at this time since you are asking a good market research question that may be useful to many.

Having checked out your video, I personally will not use the aftermarket screen as a replacement for my X. It just doesn"t have what I expect for a $1000 USD phone. I recognize that $300 USD for a replacement is hefty but the aftermarket screen does not appear to have the quality that I would expect for my phone.

“Original” screens are those containing LCDs manufactured for Apple. “Copy” screens are compatible replacements entirely designed and manufactured by third-party companies not associated with Apple.

LCD display panel can have poorer resolution (i.e. looks “coarser”), worse brightness, contrast and vibrancy and reduced refresh rate amongst other problems.

Changes in specification from original can result in battery and performance issues. Certain badly-engineered screens could even damage the backlight circuitry.

Customers who bring their iPhones to us for a screen repair are offered two choices of replacement- an original or a “copy” screen. The most common response is “Is there a difference- and which one would you recommend?”

Originals are those screens containing LCDs that were manufactured for Apple. So-called “copy” screens are compatible replacements, but designed and manufactured entirely independently by third-party companies, typically in China.

Our answer is simple- the original screen is the one we’d go for ourselves, every time. Some people think we make more money on them, but this isn’t the case. We recommend originals because they’re far higher quality and the price difference is fairly small.

We’d rather only fit original screens. The only reason we don’t is that many people will shop around and choose purely on price. As such, we need to offer the cheaper copy screens to remain competitive and avoid losing these customers. In some cases, they didn’t even know there was a difference in the first place- especially since it’s not in some shops’ interest to draw people’s attention to the issue!

This may well be the worst copy screen we’ve ever come across. As a result, the unfortunate customer has ended up paying twice to have their screen replaced- we’re sure that had they been properly informed, they would have chosen an original in the first place.

While the difference in price between copies and originals can vary across devices, it’s generally around £10 – £14 extra to have an original screen fitted. This really isn’t a lot considering the improved quality and reliability.

We compare our prices to our competitors- and we know that we come out of it favourably. While we have to offer copy screens to remain competitive, we always advise customers to go for the original.

When you’ve spent- directly or indirectly- several hundred pounds for an iPhone with a Retina display, it doesn’t make sense to replace it with a lower-quality screen that can make a £400 phone look like a £40 one! Not only that, but you’re likely to have fewer issues, and a longer-lasting screen.

There’s nothing stopping any random person without training or experience opening up a smartphone repair shop. As a result, the industry is full of companies with little skill or experience who are only interested in getting hold of your money and installing the cheapest parts they can find.

Many- if not most- don’t even acknowledge the existence of copy screens, let alone explain the difference to the customer. Hardly in their interest to do so if they only fit cheap, low-quality copies. Some of them can hardly be blamed- they know so little, they’re not even clear on the differences between OEM, non-OEM and copy displays themselves! Others can be more deliberately misleading… and some outright lie.

Generally, these shops are looking for the cheapest price on replacement screens.. When offered a copy at a half or a third of a price of the original, they’re going to go for that. That might be fine if they offered the customer a cheaper price- what we disagree with is selling “supermarket beans” (i.e. the copy screens) at “Heinz beans” prices!

Heading towards the “blatantly fraudulent”, we’re aware of companies that shamelessly fit copy screens while claiming them to be original. Worse, they’ll take your broken original screen and sell that to a recycler for more than they paid for your copy!

Obtained or manufactured “off the clock” via the same production line that produced them for Apple- in some cases, from the stockpile of parts that didn’t meet Apple’s standards, or

Apple tightened up their supply chain around 2015, which reduced the number of screens available for repairs and increased their price dramatically. A lot of companies went bankrupt, and Chinese manufacturers responded by making their own “copy” screens from scratch. At first, these weren’t much cheaper than the Apple ones, but the price soon fell.

We should be clear that- despite the name- “copy” screens aren’t direct copies of the Apple originals. Rather, they’re compatible replacements that have been designed from scratch and- as a result- vary in some respects that have an effect on usability and quality.

One of the most important differences between an original and a “copy” screen is how the digitizer (touch sensor) is designed. Apple has it manufactured as part of the LCD itself, whereas the copies have it on the glass.

Although there are only a small number of manufacturers of the bare LCDs themselves, these are then bought by countless other companies who add the remaining components needed to turn these into a complete working screen. As a result, you could easily end up with an LCD from the best “copy” manufacturer, but the digitizer/touch (as part of the separately-manufactured glass) from the worst.

There are countless digitizers out there, and you can only take the supplier’s word that the quality is good. Many ship good ones at first, then switch to cheaper parts to make more profit. This is particularly bad with the iPhone 6S and 6S+, since Apple moved the chips responsible for touch processing onto the LCD itself. As a result, you’re not just getting a copy screen- you’re getting copy chips too.

The performance specification (power drain, etc.) of most copy screens isn’t identical to the originals. As a result, they can drain the battery more quickly and mislead the operating system which was optimised for the original screen design.

It’s even possible that this mismatch could damage your backlight. We do a lot of subcontracted repairs for less-experienced shops, and get backlight repairs in almost every day. We’ve had cases where we fixed the circuit, fitted the new copy screen to test it, and had it break the circuit again!

Copy screens can disrupt the touch ID fingerprint reader. With the 6S, 6S+, 7 and 7+, the home button- part of the 3D touch- is part of the screen assembly. Frequently the home button flexes on aftermarket designs don’t work properly and stop the touch ID working- annoying if you use it to unlock the phone or log in to your bank.

We’ve seen many lift away from the frame that holds them in place. This usually results in the flex cable getting torn, and the screen needing replacing. You don’t even need to have dropped the phone- this often happens through general everyday wear and tear.

That brings us to another major issue with the copies. When you drop an Apple original, the glass often breaks, but if the LCD itself is intact, you can continue to use it until it’s fixed. With the copies, the touch/digitizer is on the glass and stops working when that’s broken. Even worse, the LCD itself is more likely to break due to the thinner and more fragile glass.

We’re not convinced this will happen, since Apple recently changed their repair policy to accept iPhones with third-party screens. However, it is possible that copy screens could be stopped from working via an iOS update, since those make a number of security checks.

Use our “Get an Estimate” tool to review potential costs if you get service directly from Apple. The prices shown here are only for screen repair. If your iPhone needs other service, you’ll pay additional costs.

If you go to another service provider, they can set their own fees, so ask them for an estimate. For service covered by AppleCare+, your fee per incident will be the same regardless of which service provider you choose.

Your country or region offers AppleCare+ for this product. Screen repair (front) is eligible for coverage with a fee by using an incident of accidental damage from handling that comes with your AppleCare+ plan.

The Apple Limited Warranty covers your iPhone and the Apple-branded accessories that come in the box with your product against manufacturing issues for one year from the date you bought them. Apple-branded accessories purchased separately are covered by the Apple Limited Warranty for Accessories. This includes adapters, spare cables, wireless chargers, or cases.

Depending on the issue, you might also have coverage with AppleCare+. Terms and Conditions apply, including fees. Feature availability and options may vary by country or region.

We guarantee our service, including replacement parts, for 90 days or the remaining term of your Apple warranty or AppleCare plan, whichever is longer. This is in addition to your rights provided by consumer law.

Replacement equipment that Apple provides as part of the repair or replacement service may contain new or previously used genuine Apple parts that have been tested and pass Apple functional requirements.

There are several display panel manufacturers in mainland China of which JDF(BOE) and TM(Tianma) stand out noticeably. JDF has gradually transformed its 6th production line into small-to-medium-size displays since 2014 and now JDF proceeds this plan and concentrates production capacity in this field in an all-around way.

As a matter of fact, TM(Tianma) has already transformed its display size and capacity altogether in late 2013 in prior of JDF(BOE), focusing on small-to-medium-size displays.

In addition to this, though SC which was vigorously supported by Foxconn had been performing mass production for LTPS, TFT, LCD displays at the beginning of 2012, did not make a great progress for the reason that SC failed to neither win over the Apple iPhone orders and nor get authorization in CG Si and IGZO technology of Sharp.

But do you know which iPhone 6 LCD made by these three display penal manufacturers is more cost-effective? Let’s go on with this article and sort things out. Not too long ago, REWA has analyzed the JDF(BOE) and LT(IVO) China made iPhone 6 LCDs in some ways. After several months’ development, how is the situation now? We have tested 3 mainstream China-made iPhone 6 LCDs by JDF(BOE ), TM(Tianma) and SC from aspects of “Appearance” and “Function” in order to make a comparison with OEM ones and give us clarity of thought.

After installed in the mobile devices, it’s much easy for us to find that all these three China made LCDs have a small gap between the LCD and device body, especially SC.

It can be observed visually that LCD Display and Touchscreen digitizer flex cable made by JDF, TM and SC are different in texture. 5) Structure Generally speaking, there are two kinds of mainstream cell phone display constructions of formation, “G+G” and “In-cell”.

Compared with the In-cell structure of OEM LCD, JDF, TM and SC which use G+G touch screen display technology thus cause their overall thickness greater than the OEM ones.

Testing Touch screen digitizer by moving the app icon in all directions including swiping from the edge of the screen, JDF, TM and SC display have no problems with touch function.

Testing LCD display in the pure color of gray, white and black, a part of JDF, TM and SC LCDs have somewhat degree problems of backlight leakage, but it does not affect the normal use and can be ignored in a certain sense. Note: The severity of this problem in the actual situation is a lot more slight than the captured pictures above.

After playing video for 72 hours, JDF, TM, SC have no obvious differences with the OEM ones. CONCLUSION From a series of tests we can find there are only a few differences between OEM display and China made LCDs. In terms of quality, JDF & TM are better than SC. For Price, JDF is more favorable than TM. Therefore, on the market condition that OEM LCDs being out of stock, JDF LCD is the most cost-effective choice for you. Want to order our products? Please contact us: PRE-SALES Skype: rewatech Email: service@rewa.tech AFTER-SALES Skype: support-rewatech Email: support@rewatechnology.com And you can also check our repair guides：

The rumor that the China made iPhone LCDs can’t survive the upcoming iOS updates existed for quite a long time which aroused panic among repair shops. Many repair shops who want to use/have already used these screens to compete with authorized repair are wondering, will Apple brick these iPhone to kill the third party repair? We ETrade Supply don’t think so and here is why:

Do you still remember that users sued Apple for bricked iPhone due to "error 53"? The situation is almost the same except only few people have let their home button be replaced by third party repair shops. How many China made iPhone LCDs have been sold? We don’t have the exact number. However, from what we know, the number should be over 1 million pieces at least. Will Apple brick millions of iPhones just to kill third party repairs?

Same rumors for the 4/4S screen before. The OEM LCDs for 4/4s died out for quite a long time, all screens supplied were China copy one since 2 years ago. Not a case of bricked phone/unusable have showed for the updating to the new iOS system.

The most possible reason that this rumor has been created—is just to cut the price of the China copy iPhone LCD and more possibly-- the demand for it.

A week before the Apple event in March 2016, the rumor was “China made iPhone LCDs can’t survive in the coming iOS 9.3 updates”, the price of these LCDs dropped significantly and everyone was holding their orders, waiting to see the result. Within one week, the price has dropped around $10/pc. After people found out that they did survive, the price increased again and here came the rumor “the China made iPhone LCDs won’t survive the iOS 10 updates”.

Since last June, more and more repair shops have accepted the China made iPhone LCDs because less OEM screens are supplied. A large certain amount of demand of OEM iPhone screens has been moved the China made ones. The rumor that “the China made iPhone LCDs won’t survive the newest iOS updates” will sure bring some demand back to those crappy OEM screen which have been used for quite a long time/ refurbished for multiple times.

The rumor is “ALL the China made iPhone LCDs won’t survive the iOS 10 updates”, not only for 5 series. As we all know, there are already China Made 6 screens in the market. Those who stocked large amount OEM 6 screens will be happy to see people still paying high price for the OEM 6 screens for quite a long time.

The supply chain of cell phone replacement parts is sophisticated, unclear and without any standards, which make it look more like gambling. Find a reliable long-term relationship partner who can grow with you is the key to success for repair shops. If you have any questions regarding the China made LCDs, please leave your comment below!

With the lack stock of the original iPhone 5 & 6 series LCD screen, the China made LCD screens becomes more and more popular among the repair shops. As the originaliPhone 6 Plus LCD screenprices are still high and not likely to fall down, plus more and more repair shops are tending to accept the China made LCD screens replacement instead, therefore, China made iPhone 6 Plus LCD screen appeared on the market naturally.

Recently we have got some samples of the China Made 6 Plus LCD screen, which have been called ‘LG 1:1 version’ on the market. We did some tests with these samples and found some differences compared to other China made LCD screens.

After tests, we found some differences in LCD frame height, glass screen thickness and the home button location among these 5 samples. You may wonder why these differences exist while they are sourcing from the same manufacturer?

Thus we need to learn the production process of the China made LCD screens, which was assembled by the 3rd party manufacturers, who purchased the China made LCD,LCD frame,glass lens,metal shields, screen foam and digitizer from different manufacturers, which could be original or high copied ones. Since there are some differences among theseglass lenses, LCD frames and so on, even though they shared the same LCD, there will still be some difference.

There is no doubt that significant differences existed between these 2 kinds of LCDs whether in display effect or working stability. In pursuit of greater profits, there is no strict requirements and standards for China made LCDs production process as long as the LCDs can achieve the basic using requirements. Therefore there is quite a gap in color difference, viewing angle and working stability compared to original ones, as the LCDs which are designed for the other brand cellphones, after replacing the IC and flex cable, have been inspected strictly before flowing to the market. (Such as the Samsung GalaxyS3 LCD screen assemblywhich are transformed from the GiONEE phones. Due to the few original stock in availability, most of the S3 LCD screen assemblies are produced by Samsung through transforming GiONEE LCDs.

It is said that these China made iPhone 6 Plus LCD screens are transformed from the MeiZu Meilan Note LCDs (Also features 5.5 inches) which are produced by Sharp and AUO, the overall performances of these LCD screens are better than LT/TM/JDF’s. And what’s big different from the other LCD screens is that there is one more LCD drive IC on the screen flex cable.

Because of the big production MOQ and long R & D cycle, the customized China made LCD screens had some difficulties intechnologyimprovementwith the changes of the marketing demands, while the original LCD features higher quality and reliability.

For these China made iPhone 6 Plus LCD screens, theLCD frametending to pop off and LCD screens are thicker. But in display effects, China made iPhone 6 plus LCD screens are better than5 series. Those customers who cared more about the prices will have one more choice once the improvements of the China made iPhone 6 Plus have been implemented. And we also will continue to focus on the China made iPhone 6 Plus LCD screen assembly.

Maybe your significant other tossed your phone off the balcony after discovering flirty texts with a certain coworker, or maybe you were just blackout drunk and dropped your phone on the club’s tile washroom floor while taking a shameless mirror selfie. Either way, your mobile’s glass screen likely looks like a drunken spider’s web.

Luckily for you, smartphone repairs in China are both affordable and fast. But before you venture off to your city’s electronics sales and repair market, we encourage you to browse these six helpful tips for repairing your phone screen:

As with damage to just about any electronic product, knowing the extent of the destruction will go a long way towards ensuring your trusty repairman doesn’t try and pull a fast one by over-quoting or overstating the damage.

In the case of phone glass and the LCD – or more recently AMOLED – screen underneath, it helps to know whether just one, or both, of these elements needs replacing (particularly so you can better estimate the cost).

While broken glass on the front of your mobile is obvious and easy to diagnose, a damaged screen (the part that actually displays all the programs and interface) can be a bit trickier to identify. Look for black spots, discolored areas, new lines and out-of-place patterns on your screen, as any of these may indicate a problem with the screen. Naturally, a totally black screen is a pretty good indicator that something is amiss.

One way to test your screen is to hold down on an app on your phone’s ‘desktop area’ until it starts vibrating, allowing you the move the app to new locations on your screen. Move the app to all parts of your display, if the app is unable to reach a certain area, this is a good indication that you’ll be fixing more than just broken glass.

From our experience, this may very likely be the most important step of all. When having your device"s screen or glass fixed, be sure to show the person doing the repair that all of its key components are in working order. In particular, be sure to demonstrate that both your front and rear cameras work, as well as the speaker and microphone.

We cannot count how many times we have heard of a phone being returned after a repair only for the owner to discover that the phone’s microphone (key for, you know, speaking on the phone) or cameras are no longer working. Also from experience: most repair people are unlikely to take your word that your camera was fine before you handed it over to them.

This should probably go without saying, but here we go anyway: having your mobile device repaired by someone other than a company technician from your phone’s particular brand will likely (like basically 100 percent) result in your warranty being voided.

Not every repair shop will give you the option of watching your phone’s crushed glass be replaced. This is because many smaller shops, particularly in electronics markets, will have your phone sent to an offsite repair area and tell you to come back in a few hours to collect it.

If possible, try and find a shop that will complete the repair in front of you. The main reason we encourage this is because we have heard several unfortunate stories where costumers have had their fully-functioning phone battery swapped out for one that can only hold a two-hour charge. Sad!

The price of having your phone’s glass or LCD screen replaced will depend greatly on the make and model of your phone, the honesty of the person fixing it and – like all things in Asia – your bargaining skills. If your local smartphone repair person wants RMB300 to replace your iPhone 6’s shattered glass, lowball them and offer RMB150. From our experience, repair people seem more inclined to budge on price when it comes to older model phones, meaning your brand new iPhone Xs Plus or Huawei P20 will likely have a higher price point and less discount wiggle-room.

Finding a good repair shop with honest staff who do repairs at a high quality and reasonable price can sometimes be difficult. If you manage to track down a good phone-fixing location, be sure to recommend it to your friends to save them the potentially costly and annoying trial-and-error process when having their glass or screen replaced.

For many shoppers, there’s comfort in choosing a familiar brand. But before you buy a new TV, there’s something you should know: Even if a TV carries a brand name you recognize, that model might have little connection to the company that built that brand over the course of decades.

For example, RCA, an iconic TV brand, now appears on sets produced by Curtis International, a Canadian company. Sharp TVs? For the past several years they’ve been manufactured by the Chinese TV brand Hisense, but the brand recently changed hands again (see below).

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“For many years, TV making was limited to the few large consumer-electronics companies that could afford the investment,” says Paul Gagnon, senior research director for consumer devices at Omdia, a market research firm. But then it became easier to source components, which in turn increased competition and lowered pricing and profits. “For some brands,” he says, “the TV business here in the States was not profitable anymore.”

Companies including JVC, Magnavox/Philips, and Toshiba exited the U.S. market, licensing or selling their brands to companies in China, Taiwan, and elsewhere looking to break into the U.S. market.

Consumer Reports has seen a wide range of quality in televisions carrying licensed brands. For instance, some Hisense-made Sharp sets have done well in our TV ratings—its higher-end sets even rival some of the top models from the dominant brands—while others didn’t do as well. Meanwhile, several RCA- and Westinghouse-branded sets are near the bottom of the list.

One area where many of these licensed TV brands fall short is in HDR performance, which can present brighter, more vivid images with greater contrast and a wider array of colors, much closer to what we see in real life. We’ve also found that many also deliver less-than-compelling sound compared with sets from the major brands.

No matter which kind of TV you buy, it’s smart to use a credit card that doubles the manufacturer’s warranty. Some retailers, such as Costco, grant you the same, or an even a better, cushion. This is particularly important with licensed brands because the manufacturers’ warranty periods may be shorter than what the major brands provide. And it might be tougher to get a licensed-brand set serviced, especially if it requires parts from overseas.

You can also ask retailers for a 30-day guarantee that allows you to return a TV if you’re unhappy with the picture quality, even if that goes past their normal return window.

Below you’ll find a list of licensed TV brands and who makes their sets. (If you’re reading on a phone, you can rotate the device to landscape mode for a better view of the chart.)

AmazonIn 2021, Amazon launched its first two series of Amazon Fire TV Edition televisions under its own brand. Previously, they’d been available from a few TV brands, including Insignia, Pioneer, Toshiba, and Westinghouse, in the U.S. market. The sets are sold exclusively through Amazon’s website and at Best Buy stores.

InsigniaInsignia is Best Buy’s value-oriented house brand for consumer electronics products, including televisions. Insignia, with TVs made under contract by several TV manufacturers, is one of the few TV brands that offer both Amazon Fire TV and Roku smart TV platforms.

JVCThe JVC TV brand was licensed to the Taiwan manufacturer AmTran until 2018, when that license was acquired by Shenzhen MTC, a Chinese TV company. The TVs are marketed here in the U.S. by JMC, a company based in Irvine, Calif. JVC is among several brands that sell smart TVs using the Roku TV platform.

MagnavoxOnce a U.S. TV market leader, the Philips-owned Magnavox brand is now licensed by Funai Electric. The Japanese manufacturer also controls the U.S. licenses for the Emerson, Philips (see below), and Sanyo brand names. As a historical footnote, Funai was the last remaining company to make VCRs; it stopped producing them in 2016.

OnnOnn is a Walmart private-label house brand for a variety of electronic products, including TVs and soundbars. Walmart doesn’t disclose which companies are making the products, but if you look through its TV manual, you’ll see that warranties are the responsibility of “Element TV Company,” the same company that handles Element TVs, and a company that assembles televisions in South Carolina.

PhilipsThe Philips brand in the U.S. is licensed to Funai, a Japanese company, via a subsidiary called P&F USA. A multiyear licensing deal—which also includes the Magnavox name—was renewed in 2018, though the company declined to disclose for exactly how long.

PioneerPioneer, with its Kuro plasma TV line, was once lauded as making the best TVs you could buy. But the company exited the TV market in 2010 and sold its home electronics division to Onkyo in 2014. Voxx International acquired Onkyo’s assets last year and reached a licensing deal for the Pioneer and Pioneer Elite brands, but the deal didn’t include TVs. Instead, our research indicates that Compal Electronics, a Taiwanese manufacturer, now has the license for Pioneer TVs in the U.S. It previously held the license to the Toshiba TV brand—until Hisense bought Toshiba in 2017.

PolaroidThe once-venerable Polaroid name has gone though many changes since the original Polaroid company declared bankruptcy in 2001. After reorganizing, the Polaroid brand was licensed and then sold to Petters Group Worldwide in 2005, which itself went under three years later after an FBI investigation found the company was being run as a Ponzi scheme. In 2009, a group of investors snapped up the Polaroid brand and launched a company called PLR IP Holdings, which now administers the licenses. Polaroid had a TV licensing deal with Makena Electronics, but the company says Polaroid’s licensing deal in the U.S. has expired, and at present, Polaroid is not licensing TVs for the U.S. market.

ProScanProScan was once the premium TV sub-brand of RCA; now both brands are owned and controlled by Technicolor, which created the color film process that was widely used by Hollywood until the mid-1950s. The ProScan brand is currently licensed in North America by Curtis International, an Ontario, Canada, a manufacturer and distributor of lower-priced electronic goods. Curtis also licenses the RCA and Sylvania brands.

QuasarAsk your grandfather about the Quasar name and he may remember it fondly. This TV brand launched by Motorola was acquired by Matsushita (the parent company of Panasonic) in the ’70s, but the little-used trademark expired in 2007. About three years ago, Panasonic reregistered it. For a while we saw a few Quasar TVs as low-cost alternatives in outlets such as BrandsMart and Walmart, but Quasar TVs are currently unavailable.

RCAOne of the most significant consumer electronics brands in American history (the original company helped develop the NTSC standards for color televisions), RCA is now owned by Technicolor. Over the past decade, the trademark, which stood for Radio Corporation of America, has gone through several TV licensees, including TCL and then, more recently, On Corporation, a Korean TV manufacturer. The RCA brand in the U.S. is now licensed by Curtis International, which also licenses the ProScan and Sylvania labels.

SanyoSeveral years ago, Panasonic—another high-profile brand that has exited the U.S. TV market—agreed to license the Sanyo TV brand to Funai. Today, Sanyo TVs seem to turn up mostly in Walmart stores, acting almost as a private-label brand for the retailer.

SharpNo company did more to develop and commercialize LCD TV technology than Japan’s Sharp Corp. But in 2015 it yielded to market pressures here in the U.S. and licensed its brand to Chinese TV manufacturer Hisense, which also purchased Sharp’s TV plant in Mexico. Subsequently, a majority share of Sharp was bought by Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn, which reclaimed the rights to the Sharp brand from Hisense in 2019. The company recently announced a return to the U.S. TV market in 2022.

ToshibaJoining the growing list of Japanese TV manufacturers that have found the U.S. market too competitive, Toshiba pulled the plug on its U.S. TV business in 2015, licensing its brand to Taiwanese manufacturer Compal. Then, in November 2017, Chinese TV manufacturer Hisense purchased the Toshiba TV business. Toshiba USA acts as a separate entity from Hisense, with its own product management, sales, and marketing teams. Like Insignia, Toshiba makes both Amazon Fire and Roku smart TVs.

WestinghouseAnother historic U.S. electronics name, the Westinghouse TV brand is controlled by ViacomCBS, which currently licenses it to TongFang, a Chinese company that has a facility in California. It acquired the rights to sell TVs under that brand following the dissolution of the prior licensee, Westinghouse Digital. Westinghouse sets are typically inexpensive compared with the competition.

I"ve been a tech journalist for more years than I"m willing to admit. My specialties at CR are TVs, streaming media, audio, and TV and broadband services. In my spare time I build and play guitars and bass, ride motorcycles, and like to sail—hobbies I"ve not yet figured out how to safely combine.

What exactly is short in the market? Your iPhone’s screen is one solid unit made up of several elements that are fused together with OCA (optically clear adhesive). The exterior glass, the digitizer panel (touch sensor), the polarizer and LCD panel. The LCD panel is the key component that is in short supply. Originally Apple had 3 manufacturers to produce LCD panels (LG, Sharp and Toshiba). Apple’s authorized manufacturers have the exclusive technology to produce LCD panels. Other Chinese manufacturers can copy the glass, digitizer, polarizers, OCA, flex cables, backlights, frames and everything except for the main component of the LCD assembly.

How were we getting these parts before? A big leak in Apple’s supply chain. The iPhone 5, 5S and 5C all share most of the same raw components including the LCD panel, the only difference is the flex cable and plastic frame. Independent factories in China can produce these components and can manufacture any 5 series assembly from an LCD panel. Shown on the left is a pulse pressing machine, used to connect the flex cable to the LCD. We use one of these to repair LCDs with damaged flex cables.

So what’s happening?A few things, first Apple has cut off LG and Toshiba, making Sharp their exclusive supplier for iPhone LCD panels and implemented very tight security. Secondly, they have had Foxconn destroy stockpiles of series 5 LCD panels to reduce the parts and material leakage to factories that re-engineer them for the independent repair industry. Along with this strategy, Apple has instructed Foxconn to reduce series 6 materials leakage from their manufacturing centers. Lastly, Apple is working aggressively with US Customs to seize inbound parts.

How long is this shortage going to last? In short,we have no idea. At the time of this writing, LCD prices have been steadily rising for 6 months and replacement iPhone 6S LCDs cost twice what Apple charges for their repair service. Apple does not intend to compete with independent repair shops, instead they are squeezing the profit out of the industry. LCD refurbishing may help shops cut cost but without new LCD panels entering the system it won’t last long.

What does this mean for the independent repair community?Apple is the only repair operation that is immune. Even the Chinese LCD refurbishing plants used by the large chain repair companies are running out of LCDs. Continually rising costs may push out the big chains but with lower overhead and clever problem-solving, the owner-operated shops stand a fighting chance.

What can we do?Apple has done everything in their power to protect their repair monopoly. When there’s only one repair shop around, prices and wait time goes up and quality goes down. Apple has every incentive to eliminate the parts market. Don’t let them. Check out the Right to Repair Bill.