Skip to main content

How to replace a OnePlus 3 screen

OnePlus 3 and gravity... sometimes even the best phones have an accident

How to replace a OnePlus 3 screen

That’s it. I’ve had it with gravity.
Seriously.

Come on.

My wife enjoyed her nice OnePlus 3 phone. Got it last summer, the gold version. She loved the whole package: nice design, good features, sharp price.
In comes gravity … and “bang”. No more screen. Scattered.
Around 440 euros worth of design and good work turned into a useless piece of dangerous glass and metal.
All that because of gravity. Or being clumsy.
But that’s a whole other discussion.

So I was stuck with a broken screen on a OnePlus 3. (*)

And my wife telling me how this was so dangerous.
And annoying, the glass started to come off in splinters.

Next stop for me was Google, check where you can get that screen replaced.
Turned out it can be done. Easy. Sets you back around 240 euros.
Què?
No thanks.

Googled a little further, and found that witrigs offers the screen for around 100 USD, depending on what you select: the screen with or without digitizer.
The difference in price was about 7 USD.

That is actually an important choice: You can even buy only the glass of the touchscreen if you Google around. But that will put you on a road of dust free environment, heat guns, pressure, glue...
I like repairing things in a way where I can see results, I don't like to make things worse just to save 50 USD.

Tips on replacing a broken OnePlus 3 screen:

  • Buy the replacement screen with the digitizer attached to it. The price difference is too small. The advantage is you don’t need a heat gun and sticky stuff to glue it all together. You can pry the phone open with plastic tools and use special tweezers to build the components over.
  • Use Youtube to check on different videos how this is getting done.
  • Not all videos show you the same tips and techniques. Check a couple, note down the steps you need to take before you even start.
  • Buy the special tools.
  • You need to be careful, things are easily scratched or broken.
  • Thanks to Witrigs for their excellent service and DHL for their speedy service, I had all delivered within a week.


I prepared a clean desk, selected all the needed tools, got my laptop with YouTube and after 45 mins of concentration I was proud to show I got it done. My first screen repair of a cell phone.

To OnePlus: thanks for the design of the phone. It is so clear and simple on the inside that you can repair it if you're a bit handy.

Warning:
You're on your own if things don't work out the way they should.
I would only advise to do this if you know what you're doing.


(*) It is interesting to see how this all ended up being my problem.
But that's a completely different story.
 

Leave a comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
CAPTCHA
16 + 0 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
You are a human, right. So this should be easy.

Want to stay up to date?

Leave us your email address, only news no fluff.