I dropped my phone and cracked the back glass. The front screen looks intact, but there are now vertical lines on the display. Do I need a full screen replacement or can I get away with just replacing the back? Any advice is welcome!
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That's a damaged screen; you'll need a new one.
In order to restore full functionality if you're planning on doing the repairs yourself, you'll need to be on iOS 18 and use the system configuration utility following the repair or you'll end up with genuine parts warnings, loss of True Tone and/or automatic brightness adjustments, loss of wireless charging and possibly a boot loop due to a sensor on the wireless charging coil. Apple is going out of its way to make sure you can't fix your own phone, and the iPhone 15 is one of the worst offenders out there.
Using Apple's self repair program will also get you past those issues, but of course you have to buy the parts from Apple and rent their tools to do the work.
As I mentioned you may be able to bypass some or all of those issues with iOS 18 but I don't have details on exactly what repairs can be done and whether they require genuine Apple parts or not.
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Thanks for the guidance, Jerry! It’s still weird that pressing the cracked back glass makes those lines worse, yet the front screen looks flawless. Definitely seems like internal damage.
By the way, how do I get access to Apple’s Self Service Repair program to buy parts and rent tools? I want to make sure I do this correctly. Thanks again for all your help!
@socialmedia1891 This will get you started.
@socialmedia1891 Chances are fairly good that the flex cable connecting the motherboard to the OLED circuits etched into the glass has had the delicate connections to the glass partially disrupted, resulting in the partial display you're seeing. Pressing on it flexes the cable, making or breaking connections and changing what you see on the screen.
So yeah, chances are your OLED screen may well be fine, but the connections to it are broken. Unfortunately those can't be fixed so replacing the screen is your only option.
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