iPhone X touch problem but is not a LCD fault?
Technically, it’s called an OLED screen. If you have an iPhone X touch failure problem that changed a few new screens, but the problem is still the same, you’re in the right place.
This article is all about touch problems caused by the logic board of iPhone X, XS, and XS Max because they all are having the same design.
iPhone X Touch IC repair?
Many amateurs or end-users would immediately think it’s having a Touch IC issue.
Do you guys remember the iPhone 6 Plus Touch IC problem? That was spreading like a disease, so we called it Touch IC disease. Here is the video I made a few years back if you want to know what that was about.
But you need to know something about the Touch IC...
Technically, Apple has a name for this Touch IC. It’s called Meson. It’s responsible for detecting all your touch input and send the instruction to the CPU.
Speaking of which, the iPhone 6 Plus Touch IC disease. Apple knew that problem was their fault, but they never admitted it’s the design flaw. Those who get this problem and they will just exchange the whole iPhone if it’s still under warranty. But the data inside sure will be lost—no chance to backup for you. Everyone knows Apple doesn’t repair; they just replace it.
But what about that iPhone warranty is expired?
Luckily, our repair community was facing the same problem. Eventually, we created a solution that solves the problem permanently. I earned a lot of money by using that trick back then. Thanks to Apple, hahaha…
But If this ever happens again in the future, for sure the Steven Job will climb out of the coffin and fire the design engineer himself.
So ever since the iPhone 6 Plus Touch IC incident, all the coming iPhone’s Touch IC (iPhone 6S onward) is removed from the logic board. They relocated the Touch IC into the LCD.
So until now, the technology of LCD had become OLED. But they are still the same—built the Touch IC on behind the LCD’s flex. Then, whenever they encounter the Touch IC issue, the so-called Genius Bar could easily fix the problem by replacing a new screen. Solved the problem by using screw-drivers like a 10 years old kid learning from YouTube.
No more Touch IC on board, okay?
Compare the photos above, we can see a big IC behind the LCD flex in iPhone 6S. The newer models all come with similar IC.
But my iPhone X can't touch with new screen, it must be Touch IC problem!
I know you now must be wondering why you already changed a new screen, and it still doesn’t work. I did say the Touch IC is responsible for touch, and it’s located on the LCD screen.
But you need to know the Meson (Touch IC) isn’t the only one that can cause touch failure.
There are some cases the Touch IC is not getting the voltage from the logic board. They never expected the Power IC of the Touch IC could also be failed sometimes.
But the most common cause in the iPhone X is the connection between the Touch FPC (Connector) to CPU is broken — A Logic Board design weakness.
iPhone X Touch problem is from Logic Board design?
Yes. I’ll try to explain as simple as possible to let you imagine.
Before the iPhone X, all the previous generation of iPhone’s logic board is a single level board. In order to make the logic board smaller, they designed a multi-level logic board. After the iPhone X released, Apple’s competitors are following the trend too. Especially Huawei keep using this design in the new models.
What is a multi-level board? What's the benefit of it?
Let’s imagine it’s a large house with one level and then changed into a smaller house that is multi-levels.
By using this design, the extra space inside the phone can be fit in a bigger size of the battery.
iPhone X logic board is two board stacked (soldiered) on each other.
But this design sure comes with pros and cons.
- Very easily broken connection between the two boards. (Especially after it suffered a heavy drop)
- The repair will be more challenging and complicated. Most of the time, we need to split the board when repairing circuits. Also, we need to master the skills of reassembling the dual-layer board. (This is why we are the rare technician, most of the technicians can’t keep up because they are so busy with Andriods which this skill is not needed. Please watch my Youtube channel to see more iPhone X repair)
- Time to repair is longer. Especially to assemble and reassemble in the testing period.
Why it suddenly failed to work? Nothing happened recently...
If the iPhone X suffered a heavy drop before, but the screen isn’t damaged, there still a big chance that the internal logic board will be affected.
There won’t be a problem appear immediately. It might show up weeks later. Why?
Just imagine a stone hit into your car windshield caused a small dent when you were driving on the highway. The hole or dent is not so noticeable at first, but suddenly one day, you see an obvious spider-web crack lines from that spot. Normally we found the cracked in the morning, maybe at night that cold down from a hot afternoon. Or maybe you found it after a car wash.
Did you get my point? Read further and you will see why the story is related to the iPhone X.
The below image is the iPhone X board drawing.
iPhone X, XS, XS Max, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max use the same design.
I’ll try to explain the design problem as simple as possible.
Read below and refer to the drawing above to see how the touch signal flows in the motherboard.
- Touch FPC Connector – LCD touch flex is connected to here. The user’s touch input is receiving from here.
- I’m the Lower Board, and I will send the input signal into the Top Layer because my boss (CPU) is not in this area.
- I’m the Top Layer. Received the signal from Lower Board and forward the signal to #4, which is the CPU.
- I’m the boss – CPU. I received the signal and responded accordingly.
Sounds simple? Let’s look at the iPhone 7 design below.
Compare the Touch Circuit flow of iPhone 7
- I’m the LCD and Touch connector. Yes, we are both display flex and touch flex combined as one.
- Okay, I’m the CPU, and I’m receiving the signal directly from them.
End of the story.
Now you have an idea that the Touch function is fragile when they have so many procedures to go through.
Buying a car from an agent that from another agent and agent again. When you have a problem with the car, who to blame?
This is why we received a lot of iPhone X repair Touch problem.
But it’s rare to have a touch issue on iPhone 6S to iPhone XR.
Yes, even the iPhone XR board is not complicated.
So how much to repair the iPhone X touch problem?
As I said earlier, it can be so many reasons if the touch is not working on iPhone X. We must need to check your logic board condition to quote a price.
If you insist want an estimated cost, it’s a very rough range.
It’s from RM400 to RM900 if the board is not yet tampered by anyone before. (2020 price range)
Below the video is to show you why it can be so expensive to repair.
iPhone X Touch Problem Data Recovery
After you watch this, you will understand why we charge a small checking fee, especially the device has someone tampered it before.
The diagnosis fee is free if the client agrees to repair after we quoted the price.
How long to repair it?
Depends on our schedule. Normally it’s between one day to five days. Heavily depends on the logic board condition.
We hate the motherboard had tampered before. We would quote a more expensive and longer time if someone attempted to fix it and failed.