iPhone 4s Screen Replacement: Do It Alone or Hire a Pro?

You’ve just bought a brand-new iPhone 4s, and you’re enjoying scrolling through the mobile version of the New York Times on the new, pristine screen while you wait for the subway on your morning commute. The train finally comes and you rush to get on it, but in the shuffle you lose your balance and trip, and your phone goes flying out of your hand, hitting the concrete with a gut-wrenching crack and putting at least a dozen lines through your screen. Uh-oh.

There is nothing worse than staring at that shattered screen, especially after you’ve saved and saved, skipping those post-work cocktails and abandoning hopes of new running shoes, in order to buy that new phone. Sure, it might still be functional. But we’re guessing you probably don’t enjoy reading the New York Times on your commute through a screen that looks a piece of wreckage from World War II. And it’s probably a lot easier to choose a filter for your Instagram pictures when there aren’t a dozen different lines running through your images.

So, your iPhone 4s has a broken screen and you’re displeased. You want a whole screen, not a shattered one. What to do? Well, let’s review the options. You could send it to Apple for repair—but that is going to cost you. You could attempt the repair yourself, but remember iPhones are complicated, high-tech pieces of equipment. If you don’t know what you are doing, a DIY repair is pretty risky. So, sending the device to Apple is outrageously expensive and doing it on your own is a huge risk. What can you do? Well, generally speaking, the cheapest and most inexpensive way to repair or replace an iPhone 4s screen is to hire a third-party professional who has experience with iPhones.

Most Common iPhone 4s Screen Replacement Service Needs

Whether you dropped your phone or inadvertently sat on it, there a number of different things that cause cracks, scratches, or a shattered screen. No matter how your phone screen was broken, there is one thing for certain: you want the screen fixed ASAP. It is important to note that there are several elements of the screen, which means that an iPhone 4s screen repair can entail a variety of different repair types, including retina display replacement, white screen replacement, front screen replacement, back glass repair, or some combination of the above.

Important Notes on How to Replace iPhone 4s Front Glass or Back Screen

The iPhone 4s is a unique iPhone model, which means screen replacement on this particular model is much more complex than with other models, such as the iPhone 3 or 5. That is because in order to disconnect the cables and complete the iPhone 4s glass replacement, you will need to almost entirely disassemble and reassemble the phone. The bottom line is that unless you have iPhone expertise, this really isn’t something you should be fooling around with yourself. One mistake and you could do serious damage to your iPhone. Therefore the best option is to take the phone to a professional who has experience working on the iPhone 4, someone who knows what to do and how to reassemble the smartphone correctly.

How to Replace the iPhone 4s Screen

As previously mentioned, the screen replacement requires disassembling almost the entire device. This process is complex and time-consuming. You will need to turn off the phone for safety, take off the back plate, remove the battery and the grounding clip, remove the logic board shields on the top, unclip the cables from the top logic board, remove the rear-facing camera, disconnect the dock connector, pry up the cellular antenna, remove the SIM card (and its tray), remove the logic board, remove the loud speaker assembly, remove the vibrator assembly, and then the LCD assembly and digitizer. Only then can you transfer your camera hold, speaker mesh, and home button to the new LCD assembly and digitizer and reassemble the phone. Yikes! And yes, that whole process is as complicated as it sounds.

When It’s Worth the iPhone 4s Cracked Screen Repair Cost

After looking at all of the steps involved in iPhone 4s screen replacement, it becomes pretty crystal-clear why getting professional iPhone 4s screen repair service is ideal. Every step involves a potential disaster that could render your iPhone unusable. But professionals won’t make those mistakes. Best of all, most repair companies, such as CPR, offer guarantees so you don’t have to worry about damage to your phone. When you think of it as a way of avoiding ruining your smartphone, the iPhone 4s glass repair cost truly isn’t that high, particularly when CPR offers free estimates.