iPhone 6(S)/Plus Theoretical Question - getting new, locked, pre-paid iPhone 6 to use for spare parts?

[ftaok]

Just perusing some shoppping sites and ran into a deal for a pre-paid iPhone 6 at BestBuy for $80. I'm assuming that it's locked to TotalWireless, but for my scenario, I'm thinking that's not a problem.

We have two iPhone6 phones that we down-cycled to our kids. Being 5 year old phones, they're not in the best of shape. The older daughter got my old 6 with a newly replaced OEM battery. It runs fine, except the mute switch was glitchy for my last year with it and it's remained an issue.

My wife just got a new phone so her 6 is going to the younger daughter. It needs a new battery and apparently the power button is mushy.

If I were so inclined, I could buy the $80 iPhone6 at BestBuy and strip it for the battery and power switch. I could also strip the mute switch for the other phone. I'd have a bunch of extra parts left over that retail for over $80.

Other than the TouchID button and I guess the motherboard, there wouldn't be anything that is "locked" to the original phone, right?

Any reasons other than difficulty that would prevent someone from doing this?

 

[maxjohnson2]

Better to bring over the motherboard and home button from the old phones to the new ones.

 

[ftaok]

Better to bring over the motherboard and home button from the old phones to the new ones.

That would be more straightforward, but to refurb both phones, I'd be looking at $160.

But to confirm, all of the "locked"-ness is tied to the logic board and the home button, right? My daughter's phones are both carrier unlocked (T-Mobile version). I think Total Wireless is on the Verizon network. Is there anything different between the two types of iPhone 6 that would prevent doing this type of swap?

 

[BugeyeSTI]

Just perusing some shoppping sites and ran into a deal for a pre-paid iPhone 6 at BestBuy for $80. I'm assuming that it's locked to TotalWireless, but for my scenario, I'm thinking that's not a problem.

We have two iPhone6 phones that we down-cycled to our kids. Being 5 year old phones, they're not in the best of shape. The older daughter got my old 6 with a newly replaced OEM battery. It runs fine, except the mute switch was glitchy for my last year with it and it's remained an issue.

My wife just got a new phone so her 6 is going to the younger daughter. It needs a new battery and apparently the power button is mushy.

If I were so inclined, I could buy the $80 iPhone6 at BestBuy and strip it for the battery and power switch. I could also strip the mute switch for the other phone. I'd have a bunch of extra parts left over that retail for over $80.

Other than the TouchID button and I guess the motherboard, there wouldn't be anything that is "locked" to the original phone, right?

Any reasons other than difficulty that would prevent someone from doing this?

You do realize you have to disassemble most of the internal components to replace the power button right? If you’re ok with that type of repair then there’s no reason why it won’t work

 

[ftaok]

You do realize you have to disassemble most of the internal components to replace the power button right? If you’re ok with that type of repair then there’s no reason why it won’t work

The level of difficulty would probably sway me from doing this. It was more of a thought excercise and perhaps filing information away for a future project.

 

[maxjohnson2]

Sticky power button seem to be a common issue for the 6/7/8 devices. I tried cleaning outside with a brush dipped with alcohol, then clean from the inside with compressed air. This solved the issue.

For $80 each, I rather spend a little more money to buy two used iPhone 6S or SE from Swappa. At least those devices are still receiving updates.

PS. I have good experience with using parts from Fixez.com

 

[ftaok]

So I ended up pulling the trigger on this one. My daughter shattered the screen on her iphone, so the cost analysis ended up favoring the use of the $80 BB phone for parts.

I'm gonna follow maxjohnson2's advice and pull the motherboard and screen out of one iphone and swap it into the new one. Then I'll swap the new phone's screen onto the shattered iphone. I don't think I'm willing to screw around with the mute switch.

Quick question. The phone I'm getting from Best Buy is from Total Wireless, which is a Verizon MVNO. We're on Xfinity, which is also a Verizon MVNO. Any chance that I could just pop in an Xfinity SIM card and have it work out of the box? It would save me some time not having to screw around with logic boards.

 

[Camarillo Brillo]

iPhone 7 and 8 have the Haptic Touch home button so this would only be an issue with 6/6s.

Whether the sim would work - only one way to find out. I got an att locked iPhone 6 to work on cricket a couple years back, which runs on att, so similar situation but different carrier worked for me. So definitely try that before you start tearing the phones apart, lol.

For me... this would be more trouble than it’s worth. Seems like tedious work. If you like doing things like this have at it! I could see how it could be a fun project if I was into it. I could also see being very frustrated.

 

[ftaok]

iPhone 7 and 8 have the Haptic Touch home button so this would only be an issue with 6/6s.

Whether the sim would work - only one way to find out. I got an att locked iPhone 6 to work on cricket a couple years back, which runs on att, so similar situation but different carrier worked for me. So definitely try that before you start tearing the phones apart, lol.

For me... this would be more trouble than it’s worth. Seems like tedious work. If you like doing things like this have at it! I could see how it could be a fun project if I was into it. I could also see being very frustrated.

I thought a bit more about it. Even if the SIM worked,I'd still do the logic board swap. The new phone is 32gb. The old iPhones are 64gb.

I'm not too worried about taking stuff apart. I've had these iPhones cracked open tons of time. I got all the tools. It's just a few hours of time and i get an oem battery and an oem screen for $80, plus extra parts to boot. I could get a cheap screen and battery to put back onto the remaining phone to use as a spare or as an iPod touch.

 

[maxjohnson2]

I can only say from my experience, when it come to prepaid, "usually" the prepaid sim work as long as it's on the same network the phone is locked too.

PS. I meant if the phone is locked by the main carrier, not locked by the prepaid carrier which will lock the phone to their single network only.

 

[ftaok]

Just to update. The phone came in today. It's locked to Total Wireless. Even though XfinityMobile is a Verizon MVNO, just like Total Wireless, it didn't work. Every time I put the XM SIM card in, it goes straight to the activation process where it tells you that the SIM is not authorized.

Oh well.

Now I just got to block out a few hours to do the surgery. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

 

[kevink2]

WRT phones, ATT has some advantages over Verizon. You can buy an ATT Prepaid phone and use it on ATT Postpaid, Cricket, and possibly other ATT MVNOs even if locked. Though those other uses don't count for unlocking. A verizon Prepaid phone can't be used on Verizon Postpaid until officially unlocked.

It also seems that, if you buy a phone locked to the MVNOs, they are generally only usable on that carrier (maybe some leeway on TF?). Protection for the MVNO that they won't be absorbing a subsidy that they can't make back on a year's service.