OEM vs aftermarket screens — what's the difference and which should you choose?
Cheap shops use cheap screens. Expensive shops use expensive ones. Most of the time the £90 panel and the £45 one are NOT the same product.
There are basically three tiers of replacement screens floating around:
1. Genuine (Apple / Samsung original)
The same panel that came in the phone. Sold only through the manufacturer's service network — Apple Store, Samsung Service Centre. Highest price, longest manufacturer warranty.
2. OEM-grade (premium aftermarket)
Panels made by the same factories that supply Apple/Samsung, sold under their own brand because the manufacturer didn't certify them. Same panel chemistry, same touch IC, same calibration. To a user the difference is invisible. This is what reputable independents (us included) use.
3. Aftermarket (the cheap stuff)
LCDs that visually look right but use cut-cost panel chemistry. Symptoms:
- Colours look slightly washed-out or pink-shifted
- True Tone (iPhone) doesn't work
- Touch lags or registers ghost-touches under pressure
- Backlight bleeds at the edges
- Brightness caps lower than original
- Degrades after 6–12 months
The honest test
Ask any shop one question: "Will True Tone work after the repair?" If the answer is "no" or "we'll show you how to disable that", the panel is aftermarket. A proper OEM-grade swap preserves True Tone.
We only fit OEM-grade. The £20 saving you'd get on the cheap stuff is the £80 you'll spend re-fixing it in 9 months.