Phone Repair Parts, Explained

What Are Phone Repair Parts?

Phone repair parts are the replacement components a repair shop fits when something inside your device fails — the display assembly, the battery, the charging port, a camera module, the earpiece or loudspeaker, the back glass, the buttons, and the thin flex cables that join them all up. Almost every repair is a swap. The failed part comes out, a new one goes in, your data stays where it is.

The confusing bit is that the same part is sold at several quality levels, and the trade has never agreed on what to call them. One shop's "OEM" is another shop's "original", and a third shop's "copy" is priced like both. We gave up on the labels and list grades instead, with the grade printed next to the price on every repair we quote.

Why the Same Repair Has More Than One Price

Open any model on our price list — say an iPhone, a Samsung or a Xiaomi — and you'll often see the same repair twice: once as Grade AAA, once as Original Grade. Same technicians, same visit, same warranty. What you're choosing is the part that goes in, and different phones and different owners honestly justify different parts.

OEM, Aftermarket, Service Pack: What Each Word Means

Before the grades, the vocabulary. These are the words you'll be quoted around Singapore, what they really mean, and where each one sits against what we fit.

If you only remember one thing: ignore the label and ask what's being fitted. A one-word description shouldn't decide a repair that can differ by a few hundred dollars.

Grade AAA — the Affordable Aftermarket Option

Grade AAA parts come from established third-party manufacturers. A AAA display is new, colour-matched and precision-cut for your model; a AAA battery is a new cell tested to spec. What you give up against the original is usually small but real — a display might run slightly less bright at maximum, or render colours a touch differently side by side with a factory panel.

It's the right call for an older phone, a spare, or a device you're replacing soon anyway. We list Grade AAA on screens, batteries and back glass across most of the brands we carry — Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Huawei, OnePlus, Honor, Google Pixel, Realme, Sony, plus iPhone and iPad.

Original Grade — Built to the Original Specification

Original Grade is what most shops mean when they say OEM: a premium aftermarket part built to match the original specification — same display technology, same battery chemistry and rated capacity. Day to day you shouldn't be able to tell the repair happened. It is not a manufacturer part, and we won't pretend otherwise; it's the top grade we fit for MacBook, iPad, Apple Watch and every non-Apple brand.

This is our default recommendation whenever you plan to keep the device. It's also the grade most people land on once they've compared: the price gap to Grade AAA is smaller than the gap in how the phone feels a year later.

Genuine Apple Parts — Eligible iPhone Repairs Only

Citri Mobile is an Apple Independent Repair Provider, which gives us access to genuine Apple parts, tools and diagnostics for eligible iPhone repairs under the Apple IRP programme. That covers genuine Apple displays, batteries and back glass, listed as their own tiers on the iPhone price pages. Our blog goes deeper on the screen side in original vs OEM iPhone screens.

To be clear about scope: genuine Apple parts are an iPhone-only option. We make no genuine-parts claim for any other device, MacBook and iPad included — those get Original Grade or quality aftermarket parts, and we'll always tell you which.

Screen Parts: OLED, Soft vs Hard OLED, Incell and TFT

Screens are where the grades matter most, because a phone display isn't one thing. If you've been quoted for a screen replacement, these are the panel names you'll run into.

• OLED — every pixel makes its own light, so black is genuinely black and an always-on clock costs almost nothing to run. It's what most flagships ship with.
• Soft OLED — the flexible, plastic-backed OLED used on curved and premium models. It's the panel type your phone probably left the factory with.
• Hard OLED — a rigid, glass-backed OLED. Still a real OLED and noticeably cheaper, but on a curved phone it can sit slightly differently at the edges and feel a touch thicker.
• Incell / TFT LCD — an LCD standing in for an OLED. The cheapest option by some distance. Blacks read grey next to the original, and an always-on display never behaves the same, because an LCD lights the whole panel at once.

Which panel a grade uses depends on your model. Tell us the model on WhatsApp and we'll say exactly which panel type your quote covers before you commit to anything.

Battery Parts: Capacity, Chemistry and What "High Capacity" Means

Batteries are consumables. Every charge cycle takes a little capacity off, and by year two or three most phones shut down early or run hot. A replacement cell resets that, which is why a battery swap is usually the cheapest way to make an ageing phone feel new again.

Original Grade batteries match the original rated capacity, so you get back the runtime the device had when it was new. Grade AAA cells cost less and come close without always matching. On iPad battery replacements we also list a Premium High Capacity tier — rated above the original, for devices that never lasted a full day even when new. And on eligible iPhones, a genuine Apple battery is available under IRP.

One thing worth knowing before you decide: on many iPhone models, iOS stops reporting a battery health percentage once a non-Apple cell is fitted. The phone works normally; the number just goes away. More on that in our guide to iPhone battery replacement costs.

Back Glass, Cameras and the Small Parts

Not every repair is a screen. Back glass, camera lenses, charging ports, speakers and buttons all come in the same grade split, and iPhone back glass also has a genuine Apple option for eligible repairs under the Apple IRP programme. The small parts are where nett pricing matters most — they're cheap enough that a surprise charge at the counter doubles the bill. Every one of them is listed with its price and warranty on the model page, so there's nothing to discover later.

One Trick That Saves Money: Glass-Only Replacement

If your screen is cracked but the display underneath still works perfectly, many models qualify for a glass-only replacement — we keep your original panel and replace just the outer glass. Your phone keeps its factory display, which on iPhone also means no parts notice in Settings. It needs the display to be undamaged, so we confirm eligibility during the free diagnosis.

How to Tell What Actually Went Into Your Phone

• Get the grade in writing before work starts and check it against the price you were quoted. A grade named on the invoice is a grade you can hold someone to.
• Check the parts history. On recent iPhones, Settings › General › About lists a parts and service history that flags a non-Apple display or battery.
• Look at the screen in two places. Outdoors at full brightness, and on a black screen in a dark room. Cheap panels give themselves away in both.
• Ask what happens if it fails. Warranty length and what it covers says more about a part than any label on a price list.

How to Choose, in One Minute

• Keeping the phone a year or more, or trading it in later: Original Grade.
• iPhone, and you want the factory part: genuine Apple parts under IRP, where your repair is eligible.
• Older device, spare phone, or tight budget: Grade AAA.
• Cracked glass, working display: ask about glass-only first — usually the cheapest good outcome.
• iPad that never lasted the day: ask about the Premium High Capacity battery.

Whichever you pick, the price on the model page is nett and the repair carries a 30-100 days warranty, set out in our service terms. If you're unsure, WhatsApp us your model and how long you plan to keep it. We'll recommend one grade, not upsell three.

Parts and Prices by Device

Grades are listed per model, next to the price, so you can see what your device costs at each level before you come down. Start with your brand: iPhone, Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Huawei, Google Pixel, OnePlus, Honor, Realme, Sony, iPad, MacBook — or browse every repair we do from the services list.