samsung lcd screen replacement cost made in china

We get a lot of people asking us for the cost of a screen repair for the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus phones. Unfortunately- for reasons we’ll go into later- replacement AMOLED display units are very expensive, and this has to be reflected in the price we charge.

On hearing this, many people understandably point out that it’s only the glass that’s damaged- not the AMOLED screen itself- and want to know whether we can replace that alone.

Samsung mobile phone screens are notoriously expensive, and often the cost of a replacement is nearly as much as a second-hand phone. The reason for this is that the manufacturing cost is high- most Samsung screens use AMOLED (active matrix organic LED) technology and are made by Samsung themselves. Manufacturers of compatible third-party displays (mainly based in China) have not yet succeeded in making their own equivalent.

While “copy” screens for older Samsung phones (like the S4 and S5) are available from China, they aren’t very reliable and use LCD technology instead of AMOLED.

Official screens are available via Service Packs that are sold by Samsung to distributors, but stock of these is usually limited, especially for newer models. (See the images below for an example of a service pack).

Official Samsung screens are also available via recycling, having been taken from handsets and refurbished in factories in China. Due to supply and demand, the resale value of a broken Samsung display is very high, which in turn bumps up the price of recycled displays.

The official Samsung Service Pack is the best quality product, and this is what we tend to use where possible. (Unfortunately, this option is only available for the newer phone models.) These are brand-new Super AMOLED displays produced by Samsung and used in their service centres. Usually, these will come with a new frame and all the correct adhesives required to give the repair a factory finish and, as you would expect, this product commands the highest price.

Some other stores may use refurbished Samsung displays, and these usually come without the correct adhesive and frame. This means you need to transfer the old frame from the broken display- if not done correctly, this can cause issues at a later date. For example, the display can lift from the frame causing it to break, or if the old frame isn’t cleaned correctly, it can result in a pink line appearing on the display. (If you returned to the store with the pink line they would refuse a warranty claim on the basis that you broke it).

The other issue with refurb displays is that there’s can be a massive quality difference depending on who refurbished it. Some screens may have imperfections or dust trapped inside, but more importantly, the glass might not be the same quality as Samsung use- typically it will be thinner and break more easily.

Screen replacements for the S6 Edge, S7 Edge, S8 and S8+ are expensive. This is because the official screens cost a lot to buy new, and even variable-quality refurbs can be expensive due to supply and demand.

Replacement glass is cheap, but replacing the glass without breaking the screen itself is almost impossible, even for a skilled technician. Over time, shops doing this would lose far more paying for new screens than they would ever make replacing the glass.

Some stores may try to pass this cost- and risk- onto the customer. However, it’s generally impossible to judge how good they are, or whether they’ll be honest regarding breakages.

Glass replacement/refurbishment is only really practical in large factories. These have large enough numbers to justify investing in equipment to do it properly. Shop-based replacement generally uses less reliable techniques.

There’s little margin in Samsung screen repair, so we’d expect most places to have similar prices. Those significantly cheaper may be using parts from stolen phones or not declaring VAT.

At the time of writing, the Samsung S7 Edge is one of the most popular phones we get asked about repairing. As we mentioned above, we’re often asked for the price to replace the screen and then get told that “it’s only the glass that’s broken”.

It often doesn’t help that many people know you can buy a Samsung S7 Edge glass replacement kit on eBay for around £20… but what they don’t know is there’s a very nasty catch. Replacing glass in general requires a lot of skill. Replacing the glass on a curved screen like the S7 Edge’s is near-impossible- even for an experienced technician- without breaking the screen itself.

Put simply, this is why no shop will offer a cheap, glass-only repair. Any small profit they make from glass replacement jobs would be completely eaten up by the cost of having to replace broken screens.

For example, at the time of writing, a Samsung S7 Edge service pack AMOLED display is selling on eBay for £260. If a store was to charge (say) £100 to replace the glass there could be good margin in this- if everything went successfully. Were they to break the screen, however, they would lose a lot of money on the job (along with their time).

Some stores may say something like “We can try to change the glass but if we break the screen you will need to pay for a new display”. Of course, this is passing the risk to the customer, and you have no idea what their skill level is. There’s also nothing stopping them saying they broke the screen then charging you the full price. Once you’ve agreed to the repair you can’t take your phone back in the condition in which it came into the store and go elsewhere.

The factories in China who refurbish screens have invested a great deal of money in the special machinery to carry out the repair to as close to factory specifications as possible. They do this type of repair day in and day out (and in much, much higher numbers) so you would expect them to be experts in their own field. They will have clean rooms, a freezer to separate the AMOLED display, use OCA, proprietary moulds and techniques to do the job correctly.

As there is little margin in Samsung screen repair we would expect most stores to be around the same cost when it comes to replacing the display. If somewhere is charging considerably less than this, we’d question the reason. In particular, some stores are buying stolen handsets, stripping the display off them and using them in their repairs. This is why there are adverts on Gumtree looking for “blocked” handsets and also why there is also a thriving market on eBay for “no service” phones.

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.

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.

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.

The Samsung Galaxy S21 was announced in Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event on January 14th, 2021 and released on January 29th, alongside two other Galaxy Phones and a new pair of Galaxy Buds. The Galaxy S21 starts at $799 and comes in four colors: Phantom Violet, Phantom Grey, Phantom White, and Phantom Pink.

Compared to the Galaxy S20, the S21 has only a few minor changes–most of them downgrades to reduce the price (S20’s starting price of $999 to S21’s $799). Most notably, the rear cover is plastic instead of glass, which makes removing it easier. The screen is still 6.2 in with a 120 Hz refresh rate, but its pixel density dropped from 563 ppi to 421 ppi, the 1440x3200 resolution to 1080x2400, and the 89.5% screen-to-body ratio to 87.2%. The Galaxy S21 also weighs a little more than the S20: 5.96 oz and 5.75 oz respectively. To make up for this, the S21 boasts a Snapdragon 888 processor with integrated 5G modem and a 3D Sonic Sensor Gen 2 in-display fingerprint sensor with widened surface area, both from Qualcomm.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Chinese flat screen makers, once dismissed as second-class players in the global LCD market, are drawing envious looks from big names such as LG Display Co Ltd and Samsung.A man walks out of the headquarters of LG Display in Seoul, October 20, 2011. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak

While the Korean giants were busy developing next-generation organic light emitting diode (OLED) TVs, little-known Chinese companies have started selling a type of display that are sharper than the standard LCD and cheaper than OLED.

Until last year, the UHD market had been almost non-existent, with just 33,000 sets sold in the 200 million-unit LCD TV market. Since then, shipments have soared around 20-fold, thanks to China, data from research firm IHS shows.

Chinese consumers who want brighter and sharper images but can’t afford OLED screens made by LG and Samsung Display, a unit of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, are turning to UHD.

But its slow introduction into the market and austere prices have thrown open a window of opportunity for UHD makers, in this case Chinese companies like BOE Technology Group Co Ltd and TCL Corp’s LCD unit CSOT.

By comparison, Japanese flat-screen pioneer Sharp Corp reported a razor-thin 0.5 percent margin. LG Display, the world’s No.1 LCD maker, posted a 5.6 percent margin.

Samsung Display, a unit of Samsung Electronics, had a margin of 13 percent, the biggest in the industry. But excluding its fledging OLED business, its LCD margin is between 3 and 7 percent, according to a Bernstein forecast.

Just as Korea overtook flat-screen pioneer Japan in the early 2000s, the surprise offensive by Chinese flat screen makers may be a taste of what’s to come, analysts say.

Chinese UHD producers have steadily expanded their capacity. In terms of cost and technological know-how, UHD presents lower barriers to entry compared to OLED.

“They’ve got also strong captive customers - Chinese TV manufacturers and a booming China market. It will take quite a while for Samsung and LG, which made a strategic mistake by ignoring the potential of UHD, to overtake them,” Nam said.

Jolted by the reality of a growing UHD market, Samsung Electronics unveiled a 110-inch UHD TV in January. Interestingly, the UHD displays were not made by Samsung Display, but were produced by Taiwan’s AU Optronics.

“Even with some expansion of the Chinese panel suppliers we do expect Samsung and LG Display to stay dominant and continue production in LCD,” said Sweta Dash, director at IHS.

While Samsung and LG Display are investing billions of dollars in OLED this year, the two giants are also broadening their product lineups to include more popular 50 to 60-inch UHD models.

BOE Technology is now planning to raise 46 billion yuan ($7.5 billion) in the biggest Chinese equity offering this year, to build panel production lines and increase its stake in its LCD venture BOE Display Technology.

We mainly provide iPhone, iPad, Samsung, etc famous brand parts, covering the LCD displays, touch screen digitizers, glass lenses, back cover, flex cable, vibrator, speaker, back and front cameras, accessories, etc.