00:00Not very many people know that Apple has a DIY self-service repair program and that Apple
00:06sells replacement parts directly to customers. Today, Apple finally released the pricing on all
00:12those individual replacement parts for the iPhone 17 lineup. So I'll be mentioning the price of each
00:18of these repair items as we take them out of the phone. It's actually pretty surprising.
00:23Starting with this tiny pentalobe screw that Apple sells individually for 18 cents each.
00:29Thumbs up for that. It does come in black and white, so if you ever want to change the color of your
00:34screws at the bottom of your phone, knock yourself out. We're off to a good start. If Apple sells the
00:39rest of the internal components for 18 cents each, I might just have to switch over. Getting the rear
00:44glass off is quite a bit harder than it looks. This guy is super snug inside the aluminum frame of the
00:50iPhone 17, and it's very difficult to get a thin pry tool in between the aluminum and the glass.
00:56Glass is glass, but really, unless you're going into the phone to do a battery replacement,
01:01you're probably only going to be removing the glass if it's already broken, in which case being
01:06careful isn't quite as big of an issue. Heat and isopropyl alcohol help to soften the adhesive under
01:11the glass. And to be fair, Samsung, Google, Fairphone, Xiaomi, and Motorola all sell replacement parts
01:17directly to consumers as well. And thankfully for us regular people, it's kind of becoming the cool
01:23thing for manufacturers to do. And hopefully my teardown videos have played a small part in
01:28unleashing the right to repair on the internet. With the back glass unfolded, I have to take out
01:33two more Y000 tri-point screws. If you don't have one of these uncommon bits sitting around,
01:38I'll link my tool kit for you in the description. My kit has 32 bits all different sized, and it seems
01:44like iPhones usually want to use every single one of them. This back glass is sold by Apple as a complete
01:50unit for $159, which seems a tad high to me. It does come with the camera flash, magnets,
01:57and wireless charging coil pre-install. And weirdly enough, Tim Cook will give you a $38.16 refund if
02:04you send your cracked glass back to him, bringing the final price to $120 after that credit. I'm sure
02:10Apple will go on to harvest the magnets and the copper, which is pretty cool of them. So maybe it's
02:15not quite as weird when you look at it that way. But even after that refund – $120 to replace the
02:21cracked glass – it's still pretty steep. And speaking of steep, it only gets worse from here.
02:26The front screen replacement is a whopping $329, with of course a $16 refund if you send your broke
02:33screen back to Tim. And normally I would 100% advocate for a repair before going and buying a new
02:40phone. But with prices like that in an economy like this, you've got to look at the numbers and
02:45include your wallet in the vote. And you might just be better off getting a new phone from Tello.
02:50Tello is the sponsor of today's video, and I'll tell you how insanely inexpensive they can be as I
02:55try – and fail – to get the screen off in one piece. Not only does Tello have a rather impressive
03:01selection of refurbished and new smartphones to choose from, they also have the least expensive
03:06smartphone plans I've ever seen, starting at just $5 a month. Even if you want unlimited everything,
03:12it's just $25 a month. That includes 50 gigs of high speed data, 10 gigs worth of hotspotting,
03:18free Wi-Fi calling, and international calls to 60 different countries, along with international
03:23roaming. Getting 4 and 5G coverage without a soul crushing price tag is rather refreshing. And you can
03:29even usually keep your own phone if it's unlocked and your same phone number when you switch over.
03:34There are no long term contracts, just how we like it, and the link is down in the description.
03:39Plus, Tello's got a Black Friday deal going right now. That unlimited plan we talked about earlier is
03:44just $15 a month for the first 3 months of service. So if you've been thinking about switching over,
03:49this is the time. And thank you to Tello for taking on the big boys.
03:54I really wish I would have finished cutting the adhesive around the left side of the screen before
03:58lifting it off. I've now got a permanent angelic glow that'll cost me $329 to fix,
04:04but knowing myself, the screen's probably not going to be the only thing broken before we're done.
04:10The next semi easy thing to replace is the battery. The battery inside this iPhone 17 is not metal
04:16encapsulated like we saw on the 17 Pro, but it is still removable with electricity. I'm taking a 9 volt
04:22battery, some alligator clips, and putting the positive terminal on the tab at the bottom. The negative
04:27terminal goes on the screw near the charging port, and then we just sit and let it short circuit itself
04:32for about 90 seconds. The battery costs $99 to replace, but after the return credit for your
04:38old battery, the repair becomes a surprisingly reasonable $51.48. Lithium batteries are 95%
04:45recyclable, and Apple already uses 100% recycled cobalt and 95% recycled lithium in the batteries
04:53across the iPhone 17 lineup. So the elements inside the battery you send back to Apple might just end up
04:59being inside your next iPhone, which is pretty cool to think about. I'm glad Apple is leading the charge
05:05on reducing the environmental impact of their devices. And now that the most common repairs are
05:09out of the way, let's see what the less common repair parts cost. I'll remove 4 more screws around
05:15this metal shield. These shields can be purchased for $4.50. The front 18 megapixel camera ribbon can
05:22unplug from the motherboard just like a little Lego. This guy, which includes the face ID scanners,
05:27costs $151 after you get that return credit. Seems a tad high, but that price might drop over time.
05:34And obviously if you're watching this video a few years from now, the pricing on the replacement parts
05:39will probably be different. The front earpiece comes off next. This includes and comes with the 5G
05:45millimeter wave antenna and costs $67.08. Pay attention to that number. No balls are visible
05:52on the outside, but on the inside there are plenty of balls to be found. I'll unscrew three more screws
05:58near the dual rear main cameras, both of which are 48 megapixels, and come at the very nice price of $169.
06:06Neither of the two camera units have external optical image stabilization, but the main camera arguably has
06:13something better on the inside. It uses Apple's sensor shift technology. Instead of physically shifting
06:21the heavy lens around to stabilize the camera footage, Apple has chosen to just shift around
06:26the much lighter camera sensor. It's way more efficient and can make adjustments up to 5,000 times
06:32a second using those electromagnets inside each of the corners. Totally worth the $169 just to show off the
06:39inside. There's three more screws holding down the Taptic engine. If you want to see the insides of
06:43this guy, you can check out my vibrator review video. He costs $67.08. Remember that number? The lower
06:51loudspeaker comes out next. This guy is also a very suspicious $67.08. Third time we've seen the same
06:58number. And surprisingly, there are no balls inside. Just a clear rubber speaker surround. The same stuff we
07:04see inside the AirPods. What's actually kind of funny though is that Apple sells this little orange
07:09speaker seal for $5.85. Imagine someone just buying a singular speaker seal and one 18 cent pentalobe
07:17screw and mailing it across the country. Definitely don't do it though. Apple's worth like $4 trillion
07:22and it's not that funny of a joke. Instead, buy something useful like flowers for your mom. However,
07:28I would like to point out something I said during the iPhone 16 teardown video. When seeing the same
07:34orange gasket last year, near the speaker opening is a vibrant orange rubber gasket and I think Apple
07:40should make the whole phone this color. And I'm just glad that Apple takes to heart solid suggestions.
07:45What color should I ask Apple to make next year? Let me know down in the comments.
07:49Finally, here in the USA, Apple has declined to include a SIM card tray and instead they've just
07:55included a blank metal box filled with a slit for the single ribbon cable to pass through and a couple of
08:01plastic blocks that fill up the blank space in the void. Could have been plenty of room for SD card
08:06slot or headphone jack, but it's all good. I'll pop out the motherboard. This is where the magic happens.
08:12Every text you send or post you like or article you scroll through, I'll pass through the chips and
08:17the hardware on this tiny double stacked motherboard. Unlike the iPhone 17 Pro, this regular 17 does not
08:24have any vapor chamber or cooling system inside to keep the A19 chip cool. And Apple does not sell the
08:30logic boards by themselves. Also, quite interestingly, Apple does not appear to sell the USB-C port by
08:36itself either. Not even Apple wants to tackle that job. Do you agree with Apple's pricing? Let me know
08:41down in the comments. And as always, it is way less expensive to get the insides of your smartphone on
08:47the outsides with one of my teardown skins. Link is in the description and thanks a ton for watching.
08:52I'll see you around.
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