we all know how easily the iPhone 5 rear
case can get damaged if a set of keys
can scratch it up that much there's no
hope in keeping your iPhone 5 rear case
in pristine condition here at iFixit we
feel your pain so today we're going to
show you how to replace your iPhone 5
rear case
hi I'm Gwendolyn with iFixit and don't
get discouraged about the amount of
steps for this repair
there's nothing especially difficult
about it but it's always make sure to
check out our step by step guide on
ifixit.com when you do your repair for
this repair you'll need one of our
iPhone 4 pentalobe screw drivers which
conveniently works for the iPhone 5 a
Phillips double zero screwdriver a small
flat-head screwdriver a sim ejector tool
or a paperclip if you don't have one
handy a set of plastic opening tools a
small suction cup and the spudger if you
don't have any of these tools I would
recommend grabbing one of our pro tect
tool kits it has all the tools you'll
need for this repair and many others and
while you can do this repair without it
I strongly recommend using one of our
magnetic mats it's not listed as one of
the required tools for this repair but I
don't know how I live without it the
iPhone 5 has a ton of really small
screws and using the mat will not only
keep them all in one place but you can
organize them I like to write what step
I took the piece or screw out on but you
can make whatever doodles help okay so
now that I have all my parts and tools
together I'm going to get started and as
always make sure your phone is off and
completely disconnected from any power
source check and check now we can remove
the two pentalobe screws down by the
lightning connector
okay with those screws out we're going
to use our small suction cups to help us
lift up the front panels you're going to
want to place this right above the home
button and once you've got it on there
nice and tight
gently pull up to separate the front
panel of the rear case I personally
found this to be the most difficult part
of the repair
there's several Clips around the display
holding it in place and they really work
you may have to use more force than you
would think but you only need to open it
enough to get the plastic opening tool
in once you get the tool in there you're
going to want to gently pry the front
panel away from the rear case start at
the bottom and work your way up the
sides now that the clips along the
bottom and the sides of the phone are
released we can finally lift up the
panel away from the rear case but be
careful
there are several cables that connect
the display to the phone and we don't
want to damage those you don't want to
lift the display more than about 90
degrees from the rear case next up we
need to remove the three Phillips screws
holding the cable bracket in place and
then using our trusty plastic opening
tool disconnect the three cables
connecting the display assembly to the
logic board
now that the front panel assembly has
been removed we can work on getting deep
battery out to start with we're going to
remove the battery connector bracket
which is held on by two Phillips screws
with that bracket off we're going to
gently pry the battery connector up and
out of the socket the battery is held in
place by a good amount of adhesive so to
free it you're going to use your opening
tool to gently pry it out of the rear
case
take your time and be careful you don't
want to deform or puncture the battery
when prying up the battery it's
essential that you only pry from these
three locations make sure you especially
avoid the area around the pool tab as
they are a sensitive chips that can be
easily damaged by the prying tool now
that the battery is out all potential
power sources have been removed from the
phone so we can get to work on getting
the logic board out the first thing we
need to do is disconnect a bunch of
cables remove two brackets holding the
logic board in place and pop out the SIM
card
when lifting the logic board out make
sure you live from the bottom here and
before you go tonguing on it too hard
you need to disconnect the antenna cable
that is connected to the back of the
board and just like that the logic board
is out now we can turn our attention to
the lightning connector assembly to do
that we just need to remove a few screws
with those screws removed we're going to
use the flat edge of our spudger to
gently pry the lightning connector away
from the rear case
okay there are a total of four front
panel Clips secured to the rear case and
to remove those we just need to unscrew
the Phillips screws holding them in
place with those clips out we can move
on to the power button there's only one
Philips screw holding the power button
in place and once you get that out
simply swing the cover open and use your
spudger to poke the power button out of
place
lastly we need to remove the phone's
volume buttons but before we get to that
we need to remove the phone's vibrator
the vibrator is held in place by three
screws two of the screws are obvious and
right up front but the third is actually
against the frame of the phone so don't
forget that before you start to pry it
out the volume button is held on by a
total of three screws and once you
remove those you can use your spudger to
pry the volume button away from the rear
case
the button cable is glued to the rear
case so to remove it we're going to
gently slide the flat edge of our
spudger underneath it to free it from
the case now all you have to do is
assemble everything back into your new
rear case and be sure to put a nice
outer shell case on it as soon as
possible of course you can find all the
parts and tools you need for this and
many more repairs at ifixit.com and let
us know how it goes
we love to hear your repair success
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