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Where to get the cheapest iPhone 4 rear glass?

I

Imola Ghost

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2009
1,153
12
A buddy dropped and broke his, I thought I'd take this opportunity to find out myself and help him out.
 
Imola Ghost said:
A buddy dropped and broke his, I thought I'd take this opportunity to find out myself and help him out.
Click to expand...

I've ordered one from ebay UK for £9, although it is white. I've not received it yet and while it states "white glass rear housing" I'm certain it'll be plastic all over - but that's preferable for me anyway. I'd give ebay a shot perhaps, just make sure its the actual rear housing and that you have a microscrew (philips size 00 I believe) - some even provide one for you.
 
Thanks!

Now if you go in and have it replaced at the Genius Bar will/can they void your warranty from there on out? I know he was planning on getting the phone replaced under warranty because he's had some very bad reception problems that makes the phone quite unusable a lot of the times. He was going to replace the back glass and then get it replaced under warranty and made an appointment before he dropped it but now it's different.
 
ItsJustafnPhone said:
nope only the front
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/984981/

from my testing the rear glass is the same as the previous glass in the iPhone 3G/3GS (no oleophobic coating).
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According to Apple's iPhone 4 video, Johny Ives mentions around ~5:32 into the video "...this glass is not only used on the front of the phone but also on the back."

I'm just stating what Apple has said, I personally haven't tested it.
 
THE dAY said:
According to Apple's iPhone 4 video, Johny Ives mentions around ~5:32 into the video "...this glass is not only used on the front of the phone but also on the back."

I'm just stating what Apple has said, I personally haven't tested it.
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yeah i thought so too, maybe its missing oleophobic coating, the fact that its painted black, but when i was scratching it, it scratched easier

I reviewed the video and they did say the glass is for the front and back, but in the video they only show the front glass being tested, and in the production line, they never show the rear glass :p

I did pretty unbiased testing so those were my findings, I just reported what I found

Searched the internet this is what I found

even before the iphone 4 was apple insider, and Engadget also noted that the rear scratched easier

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...unit_collects_incredibly_minor_scratches.html

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/23/yes-you-can-certainly-scratch-the-iphone-4/

Also iFixit said
We should note that while iFixit has said that the new iPhone's front panel is made of Gorilla Glass (and they tend to be right about these things), the material on the back of the phone has not been positively identified, though it is also a hardened glass.
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So my theory is that apple may be exaggerating their claim about both both panels being gorilla glass, I still stand by my findings that the front glass is different than the rear (based on my testing)
 
Last edited:
You might have a point, Apple does make erroneous claims like mentioning in the same video that "...we also developed a custom glass" and "we developed an entirely new grade of stainless steel".

I personally don't believe that they developed any of these but more that they licensed it from gorilla glass and whomever.

Just like Apple's rechargeable AA batteries are rebranded Sanyo eneloops.



But to get back to the topic of the thread, I do hope the OP can post back if he was able to get the back glass replaced for $29 and whether or not the phone came back with the same phillips screws or the new 5 sided torx screws.
 
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