iPhone Screen Testing and Quality Assurance Procedures

At iFixit, we talk a lot about “iFixit Quality”, but what does that really mean?

TL;DR: We do a lot of testing, tracking, and tinkering to ensure we have the highest quality products. And we back it up with a lifetime warranty. Your time should be spent fixing, not wasted on a defective part.

Serialized Inventory

Every part we sell has a serialized inventory code that allows us to track every single detail about every single part in our warehouse—where it was manufactured and by whom it was tested, stocked, and shipped.

Data is power. And all of this data empowers us to make intelligent decisions about our parts, like tracking return rates for each “lot” of inventory that we handle. If one lot has an exceptionally high “incident” rate, we can quickly troubleshoot the weakest link in our supply chain and identify what to do differently in the future. All of this data means that we’re constantly making smarter decisions about our manufacturing, testing practices, and shipping methods.

Checks Performed

• No scratches or manufacturing flaws in the glass.
• No separation between glass and plastic frame.
• Cables and connectors inspected for damage.
• Stable image with no flickering.
• No excessive light leakage from the sides of the LCD.
• Digitizer checked for proper functionality, including 3D touch.
• Measured for satisfactory luminance and even distribution of backlight.
• Inspected for distorted video, lines, and dead pixels.

Color Analysis of Screens

We test each screen that rolls through our building. First, we connect the LCDs to an iPhone test bench to quickly weed out the screens that have obvious display issues. Second, we ask a robot for a second opinion. Using a state-of-the-art color analyzer, we’re able to identify defects indiscernible to the human eye. Does that screen look a little too pink? Is the backlight working well? Is it too dim? Those are all questions that we can answer with quantifiable analysis. There’s no room for opinions on what counts as good enough—we only sell the best.

Reject Rates

Every screen we sell is tested. Right here in the US of freakin’ A. We couldn’t be more proud of our team of highly trained individuals that handle our quality control.

Every batch our manufacturers ship is so thoroughly tested that it’s not uncommon for us to reject 20% of a given batch. Dealing with problem parts at the source means you or your customer won’t have to deal with the headache of a failed part.

It would be a lot easier to just turn around and ship every screen we receive. But we’ll never do that—you’re welcome.

Low Return Rates

Because of our in-house testing method, our return rate (from you, our customer) is very low. And we’re proud of that. We’re not really sure how any defective screens sneak through our testing process, to be honest. But alas, it happens. It just happens way less often than the other guys.

Lifetime Warranty

Like we said, every now and then a defective part sneaks through our Quality Control team. When that happens, rest assured that the part is covered by a warranty that we’ll actually honor. All you have to do is ask.

What does it all mean?

Our commitment to quality parts isn’t always easy and it isn’t necessarily the cheapest way to run a business. We want to be as competitively priced as possible, but we won’t take any shortcuts to get there.

Simply put, we are of the opinion that your time is best spent fixing. Let us worry about getting you quality repair parts and you do us a solid by continuing to help us fix the world… one device at a time.