Bizarre spreading "zombie" pixels on iPhone screen

[pavinder]

A week ago I found a small area of what I thought were dead pixels on my iPhone screen. Since then they have gradually been spreading. I am not aware of any impact or bump which may have triggered it.

The screen has a crack in it from a drop 2 years ago, but I use a screen cover film which I occasionally replace, and since the drop I've had no problems so it doesn't seem related to that.

Then today I checked the growing area of dead pixels with a black background, only to find they aren't dead at all! They're weirdly alive but multicoloured. Zombies.

It seems obvious that to fix it requires a screen replacement. But I'm wondering what it might be caused by, whether it will stop at some point, or whether the entire screen will eventually be like this?

 

[Minorite]

Not sure if someone really knows this without any tests. Better ask this in Apple Store/repair shop.

 

[sarpler]

This is quite clearly an internal crack, I've seen this exact thing happen many times in the past with many devices. The screen was damaged from the drop and the crack has been growing ever since. What you're seeing now is the layers inside finally giving up the ghost.

Yes it will keep getting worse over time especially as you keep pressing on the screen and flexing it. Eventually you'll probably get a big black area and random rainbow stripes. Worst case the whole screen shorts out. Back up the phone and replace the screen while it's still functional enough to do so.