Chosen Solution
Dear iFixit Thanks for your excellent site - a real lifesaver!! Have severe problems with my iPhone 6 (not plus) suffering from repeatedly freezing of the touch screen. Everything else stays normal (e.g. Can continue play music etc). It is worse if the phone is cold. Heard about “touch disease” and thought that to be the case but I do not get any flickering grey bar. So I decided to do some tests. One test I did was to remove the front panel assembly cable bracket from the logic board - that is the thin metal shield covering where the cables from the display connect on the logic board. When this is removed the screen does not experience any freezing anymore. How can this be explained? I guess nobody without having in depth knowledge about the construction can answer that so that’s why I ask you. Maybe it’s the metal piece itself causing some electric disturbance or the many screws that hold it in place. Greatful for any feedback. Max
Touch Disease does not always have a gray bar at the top of the screen. Most people in the repair community believe that Touch Disease is caused by countless micro-flexes on the board due to the inherent weakness of the housing on the iPhone 6 and 6+. Just recently, I repaired a 6 that had Touch Disease and it did not show the gray bar under any circumstances. It would intermittently not respond to touch functions. Perhaps when you removed the bracket, you changed the “stress”, therefore applying a bit of flex to the logic board and it made it better. I doubt that if you could test this long term it would “solve” the problem. Some people have been putting tape against the touch IC’s and that can help…for a while. Quick question, are there foam pads on the connector ends (coming from the screen)? Some low-cost replacement screens don’t include these and they can also cause digitizer or LCD problems. Otherwise, without having your phone on hand, I can only surmise that your phone seems afflicted. It would need to be verified by a qualified repair shop that does micro-soldering, specifically BGA work necessary for a Touch Disease repair.
Thanks - very good and thoughtful answer. It actually came back but now very seldom so I think your diagnosis is spot on. Yes the pads are still there - original screen. I have to await until apple include non plus in the repair scheme outside guaranty period. Again - thanks! Max
