iPhone 4S Disassemble Guide

Want to take apart your Apple iPhone 4S? Here, we’ve got the very instructions you’ll need to carry out this procedure. Please note, the procedure is not for beginners and we do recommend that you are confident in what you are doing beforehand, as it can be easy to make a mistake and inadvertently damage your phone. This guide is useful if you want to change your housing, but also change other parts on the phone as well, such as the digitizer.

What you’ll need:  Small paperclip, pentalobe screwdriver, flat-head screwdriver, tweezers.

 

Dismantle Steps:

1. Turn off the device before proceeding.

2. Remove the SIM Card Tray and SIM. A paperclip or other pointed edge should suffice for this job.
3. Remove the two screws at the bottom of the phone. For this you will need a Pentalobe screwdriver. Keep these screws safe.

4. Slide the back glass upwards and this should be removed from the phone.

5. Remove the two screws next to the battery on the left-bottom side.

6. Using a lever, the tab that connects the battery to the PCB can be removed.

7. Remove the plastic tab next to the battery which will allow the battery to be removed.

8. Midway up the phone are two more screws, which houses the EMI shield. Once these are removed, the shield can also be taken out, and disconnected from the main board.
9. The bottom of the phone houses the speaker assembly. Again, remove the two screws and the speaker assembly will be removed.
10.  Above the speaker assembly towards the centre of the phone is a new screw which takes a flat-head screwdriver.  There are two further screws close to this, one to the left and one above.

11. Now turn the attention towards the top of the phone. There are four more screws which hold the assembly in place. Once the screws are released the shield can be released from the PCB.

12. With the board exposed, the various components can be released if you so wish with a small leverage tool. It is important to recognise which screws came from where as you’ll need this information to put the phone back together again.

13. Remove the grounding clip from the top-centre right of the PCB. This exposes one screw, which can be removed. There is a small adhesive piece on the top left of the phone which covers the final screw.

14. With all the screws removed, the board can be lifted from the phone.

15. There are six additional screws on either side of the frame which hold the screen of the phone in place. In order to access one of the remaining screws, the vibration motor is needed to be removed.

16. In each of the four corners, there is a additional Philips screw which needs to be removed. Some may be covered with stickers which need to be removed before access.

17. With the screws released, the screen can be removed. With a lever tool, the phone display can be slowly prized off and replaced. If you’re needing to replace this part, now is the time to do it.

18. Reassembly is a reversal of the steps given here. Remember to take the utmost care and remember where you put parts that you removed from the phone. An indepth video is given