where to get lcd screen fixed made in china

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Semi Automatic LCD Separator Machine Split /Refurbish Glass Touch Screen for lcd screen display repair Every day thousands of mobile phones through M-Triangel LCD repair machine, to become a new look. We have offered our machines to more than 2000 mobile phone repair shops over sea since 2014.They are from Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Asia. Function 1. For LCD Glass separator/remover 2. Fast separating, 20 S/Pcs; 3. Can adjust the steel wire speed and height, more precise separation; 4. Suitable for all touch screen smart phones in the market: for Iphone, samsung, HTC, Nokia, Sony, Huawei, XiaoMi. 5 .

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.

Unfortunately, in most cases, you cannot fix a broken TV screen. TV manufacturers do not sell screen replacements, and there is no secondary market for used screens. That’s because the screen is the most expensive part of the TV, by far. Replacing it would cost more than buying a new TV!

In many cases, your local electronics or TV repair shop won’t even consider working on your broken TV screen. They know that it’s just not worth their time.

If you bought your TV recently, chances are incredibly high that it came from China. Specifically, the BOE Technology factory in Hefei, the capital of China’s Anhui Province.

The BOE factory, where most US TV screens are made today, is almost a mile long and cost about 7 BILLION dollars to build! Sony, Samsung, LG, Vizio, etc. all buy their TV screens from BOE.

“Liquid Crystal display screens are made by putting two thin sheets of glass together. On one of the sheets transistor “cells” formed by first depositing a layer of indium tin oxide (ITO), an unusual metal alloy that you can actually see through. That’s how you can get electrical signals to the middle of a screen.

Then you deposit a layer of silicon, followed by a process that builds millions of precisely shaped transistor parts. This patterning step is repeated to build up tiny little cells, one for each dot (known as a pixel) on the screen. Each step has to be precisely aligned to the previous one within a few microns. Remember, the average human hair is 40 microns in diameter.”

This is the number one reason your TV screen is so costly – they are incredibly challenging to build, and as a result there are only a few companies in the world that make them.

I’ve also heard that only 1 out of every 3 TV screens pass testing at the END of the manufacturing process. That means 2 out of every 3 screens made are worthless!

The screens are made in China and then have to be shipped across the world to be sold in the US. The cost to ship them is high, and a lot of damage can happen during the journey.

So the complexity, and shipping both contribute to the high cost of TV screens. It’s why no one sells the screen separately, it just doesn’t make financial sense.

If your TV screen has an imperfection, discoloration, lines, streaks, spots, etc., then there is a good chance that your warranty will cover it (if it’s within the allotted time period). Most TV warranties are in place for the first year, and they cover these types of manufacturer defects.

And the even better news here is thatthe majority of issues you’re likely to encounter with your TV will happen within the first year (when you’re covered by the manufacturer).

You can always try selling it. Your broken TV isn’t worth much, but to the right person, it’s worth something. Someone who knows what they are doing will take your TV apart, and sell off each individual piece.

Technically, you could do this yourself, but it’s time consuming and you risk damaging the parts. I wouldn’t bother. Instead, try listing the whole TV for sale. Getting something for a broken TV it is better than nothing.

If it turns out no one is willing to buy it, you can try listing it on those same marketplaces for free!Tons of people usually respond when they can get something for no cost, even if it’s broken.

Find a local electronics recycler. There are a lot of these out there. You can look up the closest one to you using Earth911’s website. Type in “TV” and then your Zip Code to find the nearest option to you. Once you find the closest location, you just have to drop off your TV.

Local electronics stores typically recycle products that they sell. A great example of this is Best Buy. They have a nationwide recycling program. But keep in mind, they will charge you a small fee!

Your town likely collects e-waste. Check out your town/cities trash website and see what their policies are for electronic waste. Some towns have special pick up days, others have drop off locations. I would just call your city’s public works department and ask for a place to recycle or dispose of old electronics.

Buy a TV screen protector. You can buy a screen that covers your TV and protects it against damage, and many are waterproof! These provide great added protection from possible bumps and contact with liquids from pets and children.

Mount your TV on the wall.This way your television is up off the ground, and out of reach. It won’t stop your kids from throwing a toy at it, but at least they can’t bump into it, or accidentally knock something, or someone into it.

Don’t allow video games. This might sound harsh (especially for the kids), but I’ve heard too many stories of Nintendo Wii controllers being accidentally thrown at the TV. If you don’t hook up a video game console to your TV, this can’t happen.

Most TV repair shops won’t even bother trying to fix a broken screen. In the end, between a screen replacement and the repair costs, you’d spend the same amount for a brand new TV!

If your TV is cracked or damage because of something you did, your warranty is unlikely to cover it. In that case, consider selling your broken TV or disposing of it.

“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.

You might be confused by different kinds of China made iPhone LCD brands. In the market, now for iPhone 6 China Made iPhone LCDs, there are around 11 brands. For iPhone 5 series, there are about 5-6 brands.

For those China made LCD screens, most of you may be familiar with Tianma, Shenchao，Longteng(IVO), Jingdongfang(BOE). For Longteng/LT, Its official name is IVO. For Jing Dongfang/JDF, its official name is BOE. The rest are , innolux, AUO(Taiwan Brand), IVO, JDB etc.

In the model, it is A that contacts Shenchao company (A may be a company or some). They ask Shenchao to produce one kind of LCD for their mobile phone. Because they cannot ask Shenchao company to produce iPhone LCD.

Besides, in case of getting trouble from Apple or government, they may made a fake phone as their own brand to match the LCD. Then both sides sign the agreement on it. A offers funds to Shenchao company to study the LCD. What A to Shenchao is like what Apple to Sharp/LG/Toshiba.

At the beginning, this China Made iPhone screen hasn’t had much market share. So after Shenchao company produces the LCDs, A would ask factory B or its own factory to assemble the screens and sell to the markets.

After opening the market, the supply of these screens cannot meet the large demand of the market. A looks for more factories like C and D etc to assemble the screens for it and then A sells them to the market.

As more and more brands coming, A doesn’t want to assemble the screens itself any more but only sells the Shenchao lcd to certain factories. Those factories buy the spare parts like glass, frame, backlight, OCA etc by themselves and assemble the LCD with these spare parts.

In order to lower the cost and benefit more or to compete with others or to survive, they would use different quality of spare parts, which leads to the different quality finally. Actually the quality of China Made iPhone LCD screen depends not only on LCD, the spare parts but also the technique each factory adopts. So even for Shenchao screen, there is different price.

Shenchao LCD Screen is not assembled by Shenchao company. Actually Shenchao only produces the LCD. So your “Shenchao” LCD screen may not be the same like others’. Don’t think that everyone’s Shenchao screen is the same.

SIQI TECHNOLOGY CO., LIMITED is a professional wholesaler & exporter for top selling cell phone brand repair parts and accessories in Shenzhen, China since 2012.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

Not too long ago, we’ve just got some samples of the new China Made iPhone 6 LCD Display. No doubt that this will be another option for all who are suffering from the high price of the iPhone screens. Let’s take a deep look of these screens.

At the moment, there are two companies producing the iPhone 6 LCD screens, one is LT, the other one is JDF (no iPhone 6 screens made by TM are available now). Below are some detailed comparisons after our tests.

When taking a closer look at both of the LT and JDF iPhone 6 screens under direct light, you’ll see the digitizer textures. While for the original screen, the textures had been hidden by a special painted layer.

The glass lens of LT made iPhone 6 screen is far too thin compared with the original one, which can’t secure the display well. At the same time, thinner glass lens will make the home button stick up above the screen. While for the JDF made the screen, a plastic layer has been added to make it thicker.

It’s hard to be realized through eyes, but it’s easily to be touched. When you grab the iPhone 6 with LT made screen, it’s hard to ignore that annoying uncomfortable feeling. At this point, the JDF made screen is much better.

High and low temperature tests have been applied to both the LT and JDF iPhone 6 screens. Both of them have survived and worked well after been putted in a 55 centi degrees room for 2 hours and -5 centi degrees room for 2 hours.

Through our tests, the first version of both the LT and JDF displays are not good choices for the repair industry. The obvious color differences, thickness differences still need to be improved. If you have any questions regarding the LT/JDF iPhone 6 screens, please leave your comment below, we’ll try our best to answer it.

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.

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.

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.