iPhone X screen coming out of frame

mrochester · 16 Apr 2020 at 11:15

Hi all.

I keep my iPhone X in a case at all times.

I just happened to take the case off my phone just now and noticed the edge of the screen on the left and right side feeling a little bit sharper than usual. Upon looking sideways on at my phone I can see that the screen glass is coming out of the frame on both the left and right side of the device. If I push on the screen I can see it move back into position within the frame but it does not stay there when I left go. I can actually see a small opening near where the mute switch is.

Has anyone seen this before and know what the cause might be?

Many thanks.

M.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/06Wkt3RcPvuhv_5l3rW9GIxsw#Newcastle_Upon_Tyne

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0P2L1Vt1c8eGKRo2PnzRLP3YA#Newcastle_Upon_Tyne

VaderDSL · 16 Apr 2020 at 15:41

Possibly a swelling battery?

mrochester · 16 Apr 2020 at 15:42

VaderDSL said:
Possibly a swelling battery?

Wrong time for it to be happening given I can't take it anywhere!

Alpherah · 17 Apr 2020 at 08:23

Swollen battery, if store was open we would ship it for repair with a ~14 day turn around. Mail in repair will be same duration or quicker

mrochester · 17 Apr 2020 at 08:28

Alpherah said:
Swollen battery, if store was open we would ship it for repair with a ~14 day turn around. Mail in repair will be same duration or quicker

I tried to organise a mail in repair but it wanted to charge £550 to my credit card before I could do so.

Is there a way to get it sent off to be assessed before deciding whether it’s a chargeable repair or not (phone was new November 2017)?

b0rn2sk8 · 17 Apr 2020 at 08:55

Go back to Apple, you’ll need to try quoting consumer law and see if they budge on the repair bill as it’s out of warranty.

The other option is a third party authorised repairer or general mobile phone shop.

mrochester · 17 Apr 2020 at 09:35

b0rn2sk8 said:
Go back to Apple, you’ll need to try quoting consumer law and see if they budge on the repair bill as it’s out of warranty.

The other option is a third party authorised repairer or general mobile phone shop.

I’ve managed to get a repair set up as a battery replacement repair. A box is on its way.

Squink · 17 Apr 2020 at 15:14

Is that eighty quid or whatever instead of £550? Or are they letting you off the hook on the cost?

mrochester · 17 Apr 2020 at 16:29

Squink said:
Is that eighty quid or whatever instead of £550? Or are they letting you off the hook on the cost?

£77 something I think it was. It might even be nothing if they decide to just replace it under consumer regulations.

The question in the meantime is do I use an old 5S or order an 11 pro off amazon or Apple and then return it when my phone comes back...

Squink · 17 Apr 2020 at 16:33

I ordered a OP 7t Pro off Amazon a while ago and returned it when I decided it wasn't quite what I wanted. They took ages to refund, to the extent that I was concerned it had "fallen into the pocket" of someone in their returns team.

Moral of the story: be wary

Bashir Khalifa · 25 Jun 2020 at 12:44

I have the exact same problem. Phone purchased November 2017. I took it to an Apple store last Saturday. They told me it was a swollen battery and as a result it had pushed the screen out. I was told the battery may be chargeable at about £76 but they would replace the screen because the battery had caused the damage. Today I got an email to say that their repair centre had examined the phone and the screen damage is not covered. There is a seperation or split in the dispaly. As such they want to charge £235 to repair it or will send it back as is. No coment on whether that will include repair/ replace battery.
On to customer service and after an hour managed to get through to the Apple Store. The manager said basically take it or leave it. As regards the battery, because they are prepared to return it as is, then by implication the battery is okay (by the way Battery Health was around 89% before). So the question is, why the person at the Genius Bar explicitly state that the Battery was swollen!!! Dont know if I should accept the phone back like that.
If I got the screen repaired elsewhere (was quoted £130) and the battery started playing up I'm guessing I would be back to square one!!!

Alpherah · 25 Jun 2020 at 13:24

The battery swelling cannot cause damage to the display unless the display already had damage, hence weakening it.
Trust me, the battery in the X series phones are huge and apply a lot of even force to the entire display if they swell, it’s practically impossible.

And because of this, the correct procedure is to charge for the damage to the display before proceeding with repair or replacement.

Apple should advise of the risks (minimal as long as precautions are taken) in using a device with a swollen battery, but they are under no legal obligation to do any more then the solution offered.

Previously (iPhone 6 era) Apple used to replace devices with swollen battery regardless of other damage. Unfortunately, less honest people exploited this for scams and thus the policy ended to fall in line with standard warranty policy.
The technician was technically correct .. but about 3 years too late with their positioning

Bashir Khalifa · 25 Jun 2020 at 20:57

I don’t know how the damage to the screen was caused. About two months ago I noticed the screen feeling a bit spongey all of a sudden. However couldn’t do anything because of COVID. So first chance i got, got to the Apple Store.
However I am sure a swollen battery is the likely cause of pushing the screen out in the first place.

Journey · 25 Jun 2020 at 21:37

Bashir Khalifa said:
However I am sure a swollen battery is the likely cause of pushing the screen out in the first place.

Call Apple if you bought it through them, and claim on your 6 year consumer rights for good not fit for purpose, and being faulty from new. If the battery swelling has cause the screen to push the screen out then that is unacceptable, regardless of the screen damage.

Alpherah · 25 Jun 2020 at 22:27

Bashir Khalifa said:
I don’t know how the damage to the screen was caused. About two months ago I noticed the screen feeling a bit spongey all of a sudden. However couldn’t do anything because of COVID. So first chance i got, got to the Apple Store.
However I am sure a swollen battery is the likely cause of pushing the screen out in the first place.

just for clarity, they won’t charge for the display being dislodged by the battery.
There will be damage to the display somewhere , even a small chip or crack

Journey said:
Call Apple if you bought it through them, and claim on your 6 year consumer rights for good not fit for purpose, and being faulty from new. If the battery swelling has cause the screen to push the screen out then that is unacceptable, regardless of the screen damage.

I think you need to read up on how consumer rights work my friend I’m afraid.
It’s far from as simple as that

Journey · 25 Jun 2020 at 23:07

Alpherah said:
I think you need to read up on how consumer rights work my friend I’m afraid.
It’s far from as simple as that

Thanks for the tip, that I didn't need. See the posts below for clarity.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/33366025/

Then go two posts down from there as well.

mrochester · 26 Jun 2020 at 06:20

Mine was all sorted for me under the battery replacement program. I got my phone back within about a week all fixed. Very good service given the current circumstances!

Alpherah · 26 Jun 2020 at 07:18

Journey said:
Thanks for the tip, that I didn't need. See the posts below for clarity.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/33366025/

Then go two posts down from there as well.

Firstly, there’s no indication the device was purchased from Apple, consumer law is applicable to the place of purchase not the manufacturer.
Secondly - the device is older then two years old, which is pretty much the cut off for a consumable such as a battery which, can in some circumstances, swell when heavily used.
Thirdly - consumer rights, even with Apple’s liberal version of it, state’s the customer needs to prove the issue was present from purchase, certainly after 3 months has passed, which is practically impossible on a consumable part such as a battery of this age.
Finally - the depot inspected the device and found accidental damage.
When they say display separation they don’t mean from the enclosure (which is a given with swollen battery) but rather physical separation of the display ie: cracks, chips etc

Journey · 26 Jun 2020 at 07:32

Alpherah said:
Firstly, there’s no indication the device was purchased from Apple, consumer law is applicable to the place of purchase not the manufacturer.

Quoted myself before since you didn't obviously read my first post properly if at all, just got on the defensive.

Journey said:
Call Apple if you bought it through them,

Alpherah said:
Secondly - the device is older then two years old, which is pretty much the cut off for a consumable such as a battery which, can in some circumstances, swell when heavily used.

The battery isn't being challenged, it's the fault that has been caused to the rest of the device which is covered under the 6 years, I know this as I have had two Series 0 Apple Watches replaced which were well over 2 years old due to the battery swelling and the screens popping off, this is literally no different. I quoted the person who had the problem, since you may not have read that properly either.

Bashir Khalifa said:
They told me it was a swollen battery and as a result it had pushed the screen out

Alpherah said:
Finally - the depot inspected the device and found accidental damage.

Makes no difference, if they already admitted the fault was due to the swelling battery. See the quote above again if you missed that very important point.

Don't try and dissuade the person who is in their rights to chase this as a consumer, of a very expensive product that should not become faulty, just because you work for Apple and think you know it all.

Alpherah · 26 Jun 2020 at 07:39

They didn’t admit the fault was down to the swollen battery, as far as I can see.

they said they were unable to replace the battery due to display damage, hence the £275 display cost. The wording is a little wishy-washy agreed but this is the crux of it.
Display simply being pushed up (even with complete separation from enclosure) isn’t charged at display repair costs so they must have found damage to the display, which can’t be caused by pressure from behind the screen.

It’s nothing to do with who I work for and everything to do with trying to explain the situation.

If six months have passed and something goes wrong, you might still get a repair or replacement but you will have to prove that the goods were inherently faulty, i.e. show that there is no other cause, such as accidental damage, for the fault.

Impact can cause swollen batteries (although unlikely but still), the presence of depot discovered accidental damage (ie: more then simply the display being pushed off the enclosure) makes it practically impossible for a consumer to claim consumer rights in this instance

As for your watch, watch swollen battery was covered by a hidden repair extension program which wasn’t public knowledge and allowed replacement regardless of certain accidental damage on original. S1 and S2 watches