Cheap isn't always good. Know the difference

Our phone lines and emails have been going crazy in the past couple days. Many of you in the repair community may have heard about the new cheaper screens selling between $40-$60 wholesale price for the iPhone 6. We’ve heard it all. Customers calling saying our prices are expensive compared to other wholesalers. One problem, there is a major issue that has not been addressed. Those are copy screens and right now there are a few different screens out in the market, they are TM, LT, JDF, Copy TM, and of course OEM. Here are the current known issues with the different screens currently being supplied that will hopefully make you think twice before getting those cheaper screens. Especially with iOS 9.3 now out.

First I want to give you all a brief overview of the different screens available:

	TM	LT	JDF	OEM
Structure	G + F	OGS	G + G	In-Cell
Supply	Sufficient	Sufficient	Sufficient	Shortage
Glass Thickness	0.7mm	0.9mm(Digitizer + Glass)	0.57mm	0.95mm
Whole Thickness	1.82mm	1.7mm	1.82mm	1.92mm
Durability of Glass	-	Fragile	-	-

What is a TM Screen?

OEM iPhone manufacturers use In-cell technology to make the LCD screens, while 3^rd party manufacturers have to choose other economic methods due to cost and risk. TM manufacturer adopt the G+F structure, which build the senor part on a film layer then assemble the film layer with the glass lens to be a whole digitizer touch screen. This is the better out of LT and JDF.

What is a LT Screen?

LT manufacturer use the OGStechnology to make the digitizer touch screen. The touch sensor is embedded on the glass lens and the cover lens is made very thin to make sure the digitizer work as good as possible to receive the command from fingers. The LT LCD screen is so thin that we can see the dots and diamond textures beneath the cover lens. The thin screen makes the glass very fragile

What is a JDF Screen?

JDF manufacturer use the G+G structure for its LCDs. G+G means glass plus glass. The digitizer touch sensor is made on a glass lens then the glass assembled with the cover lens as a whole digitizer touch screen assembly. Apparently, this kind of structure will increase the thickness of the digitizer touch screen, but it makes it possible that when the screen break, the digitizer screen works as usual. In the opposite, once the LT OGS LCD screen breaks, the whole LCD screen assembly goes bad, and it can't be repaired except replacing the whole part. By the way, the G+F and G+G structures both help prevent this bad situation.

Now here are the known issues with these screens:

Screen Type	TM	Copy TM	LT	JDF	OEM
Issue	·  Not OEM	·   Not compatible with iOS 9.3. ·   30% defect rate.	·  Screen is fragile. ·  Absorbs to much energy from device. ·  Has now been eliminated from the market	·  Absorbs huge amount of power. ·  Thick Glass ·  High defect rate   weak signal (RF)	·     shortage

In Summary:

TM screens are considered the best aftermarket screens out on the market and closest thing to OEM. Although they are not the cheapest they do work the best and are the best alternative to OEM. However currently the TM name is being slaughtered by the copy TM making its circulation in the market. How can you get TM screens? That depends on how much you trust your supplier. You must know that price difference between OEM and TM and sometimes is not much depending on the supply.

Copy TM screens are being sold for half of the current price of TM the main problem is the copy TM screens do not work on iOS 9.3 for an unknown issue. All we know is that if a customer tries upgrading or restoring their device on iOS 9.3 phone will not work at all. However, these are reports from the market, but lets not forget the 30% defect rate either. These copy screens are selling for the cheapest and will not be remanufactured once stock is out.

LT screens are fragile which means a simple drop will most likely crack the screen. Not to mention they take huge amount of power from the device resulting in a shorter battery life and could potentially short the customers iPhone®. On the bright side these screens have been discontinued from the market due to these issues, but there are still screens in circulation from Chinese suppliers who are trying to get rid of the stock.

JDF screens are not fragile like LT, but they still absorb huge amounts of energy from the device and like the LT it does drain the battery a lot faster and consumers will come back to complain. Due to the high energy consumption the screens have been linked to cause a weaker signal output to the devices, specifically RF. I would like to note these are only about 50% of the screens with that issue and because of that reason these screens are still making their way around the market. They are compatible with iOS 9.3 but overall screen defect rate is almost 40%.

Left photo is TM - Right photo LT/JDF

Here at Wireless Parts we do not get cheap screens. This goes against our ethical believes that we stand for. If we did get these knock-offs we would have a high return rate which would deteriorate our profits and cost us our customers. Every repair shop should follow this is simple rule.

This article is for informational purpose's only. We at Wireless Parts, LLC believe this is a serious issue that must be addressed. Our customers trust us to do what’s right and for that reason we only carry quality screens no matter the price. If you are a repair shop and want to open a account feel free to fill out this form. A representative will contact you within 24 hours.