The buzz about the Apple iPhone 8 has died down. Now its new owners are breaking it in, losing the delicate touch of early ownership, and sending it to the asphalt as they exit cars, trip over hydrants, and jump at spiders. The iPhone 8 comes with all sorts of new features, but invincibility isn’t one of them. While early adopters were eager to snag one, you put on your thinking cap and asked the big question: “How do I fix that?”
Watch our Apple iPhone 8 Teardown
To find out what the iPhone 8 means for repair professionals, we had our friend Holger at Holger Tech tear down one to the midframe, and we’re happy to report that common repairs like front screens, cameras, and batteries will be familiar. See for yourself:
What’s not so familiar? The back glass, for one. It’s not a strange sight, but it is a first for Apple, and man do they like glue. The back glass is already notoriously hard to remove. We gave it a shot and relented, not willing to destroy our model by going the full Office Space on it.
More Broken Phones, But Tougher Repairs
So what can you expect in the early days, before too many of these new phones arrive shattered at your front door? More breakages. The mention of back glass is warning enough, and drop tests consistently demonstrate the fragility of the 8 and 8 Plus glass.
Now wipe those dollar signs from your eyes for a second. “More breakages” applies exclusively to the back glass, and like we said, it’s stubborn. The glue apparently isn’t heat reactive, which is a big pain. Apple knows it! It’s charging $99 for back glass repair protected under AppleCare+, compared to $29 for a screen repair. Once parts are available and repair methods are shared, you’ll need to stay competitive by learning to make the repair efficiently while keeping sensitive parts safe.
Enough bad news. Let’s touch on the positives. Touch screen and LCD repairs will be easy. The front halves of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus are largely unchanged from their forebears. Pentalobe, tri-wing, and Philips head screws are present and accounted for, but in a slightly different orientation, so use a screw mat and watch those lengths. Home buttons, yes, should be retained for Touch ID and full functionality.
All in all, a lot of components are superficially identical to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: speaker brackets, taptic engine, cameras. Let’s reserve final judgment on compatibility until further tests are run, however. For customers who expect the same quality from the iPhone 8 after the repair, you’ll want to upgrade to screens and components that match the specs of the OEM part.
We’ll continue to provide more info as we find it, and as always, we invite you to tell us the obstacles you come across during your repairs! Apple iPhone 8 parts are already available in our store, and more parts are arriving every day. Get what you need, tell us if you need something else, and happy repairing!
Coming soon: the iPhone X, where the real fun begins…