How do I know if my screen is cracked or the LCD is broken?

Open a full white image and a full black one. Clean picture under the cracks with touch working everywhere means the glass cracked. Black patches, spreading colour, vertical lines or a dead touch area mean the display underneath is damaged.

Can you replace just the glass on a phone screen?

On most phones from the last eight years, no. The glass, touch layer and display are laminated together and replaced as one assembly. On many iPad generations they are separate, so a glass-only iPad repair is a real and cheaper option.

How much is a cracked screen repair in Singapore?

At Citri Mobile, from $35 for iPhone and $45 for Samsung, depending on the model. Prices are nett with nothing added at collection.

My screen is black but the phone still rings. Is that the screen?

Usually the display or its connector rather than the phone itself, since everything else is clearly still running. Take a screenshot blind and check it elsewhere: if the screenshot looks normal, the panel is the fault. The iPhone black screen guide goes through it step by step.

Is it worth repairing a cracked screen on an old phone?

Usually yes, because a screen costs a fraction of a handset. The case against it is when the phone has stopped getting security updates, or when the battery needs doing at the same time and the pair approach half the price of a used replacement.

Will a cracked screen get worse?

Yes. The broken seal lets humidity and dust reach the connector and the board, OLED damage spreads, and a crack over the touch ribbon can kill touch that currently works. A cheap repair becomes an expensive one if it is left long enough.

What warranty do I get on a screen replacement?

A warranty of up to 100 days depending on the repair, honoured at any of our four shops rather than only the one that did the work.

Cracked Glass or Broken Screen? Tell Them Apart

If the picture is perfect and touch still works everywhere, you cracked the glass. If there are black patches, spreading colour, vertical lines, or a dead area under your finger, the display underneath is broken. Four checks below tell you which in about a minute. It matters because on some devices the two are very different repairs, and because a glass-only crack that looks alarming is often a much smaller job than it appears.

What is actually under the glass?

A modern phone screen is four layers stacked and bonded together.

The cover glass. The bit you touch. Its job is to take the impact and it is the only layer designed to be sacrificed.
The digitiser. A grid that senses your finger. Usually invisible and usually the layer people forget exists.
The display. LCD or OLED, the part that makes the picture. Nothing about it is repairable once damaged.
The backlight, on LCD only. OLED pixels light themselves, which is why an OLED failure looks black rather than dim.

People say screen when they mean any of the four. Repair shops say screen when they mean the whole bonded assembly. That mismatch is where most of the confusion about pricing comes from.

Four checks to tell cracked glass from a broken display

1. The picture test

Open a full white image, then a full black one. On white, look for grey clouds, ink-blot patches or a rainbow bloom. On black, look for bright spots or vertical lines. If both come up clean under the cracks, the display is fine and you cracked the glass.

2. The touch test

Open the keyboard app and type every letter. Then drag an icon slowly across the whole screen, edge to edge, including the corners. A strip or patch where your finger stops registering means the digitiser is damaged, even if the picture is perfect and there is no visible crack over it.

3. The screenshot test

Take a screenshot of whatever looks wrong, then look at it on a computer or another phone. If the screenshot looks fine, the phone is rendering the image correctly and the fault is in the panel. If the screenshot shows the same mess, the problem is further back, in the graphics side or the board, and that is a different repair.

This is the check almost nobody does and the one that saves the most money, because it separates a screen problem from a board problem before anyone opens anything.

4. The torch test

In a dark room, hold a torch at a low angle across the surface. Glass-only cracks catch the light as raised lines you can usually feel with a fingernail. Damage under the surface stays flat and dull no matter how you angle it. Run a fingernail gently across: if it catches, it is the top layer.

Does the difference change what I pay?

On most phones made in the last eight years, less than you would hope, and here is the honest reason.

The four layers are laminated together with optically clear adhesive, so there is no air gap and the picture looks like it is painted on the glass. Excellent for the display. Terrible for repair economics, because you cannot lift off a cracked top layer without destroying what is under it. The assembly is replaced as one part.

So on a current iPhone, Samsung or Pixel, a glass-only crack and a dead display often cost the same, because the same part goes in either way.

Where it does still change the bill:

Older and budget models, where a separate glass-and-digitiser part exists and a glass-only repair is a real option.
iPad, where the glass and the display really are separate parts on many generations, so a cracked-glass-only iPad is meaningfully cheaper than a broken display.
Back glass, which is its own repair entirely and nothing to do with the screen.
Foldables, where the outer cover display and the inner folding panel are separate parts at very different prices.

What does a screen repair cost in Singapore?

Real catalog figures, nett, so the quote after a free diagnosis is what you pay at collection.

Device	Screen replacement from
iPhone, Original Grade display	$35
iPhone, Grade AAA display	$30
Samsung	$45
Google Pixel	$60
OPPO	$30
Xiaomi	$40
iPad, glass only	$40
iPad, full display	$55
MacBook	$140
Apple Watch	$75

On iPhone there is a third option: a genuine Apple display, fitted for eligible iPhone repairs under the Apple Independent Repair Provider programme, from $355. That path exists for iPhone only. Every other brand on this page gets Original Grade or Grade AAA, and we say which before we start.

Can I keep using a phone with a cracked screen?

For a while, and most people do. Three reasons not to leave it too long.

Water and dust get in. A cracked front breaks the seal. In Singapore humidity, moisture reaches the display connector and the board over weeks rather than years, and a board repair costs several times a screen.

Glass shards. A spidered screen sheds tiny pieces into fingertips. Tape over it if you are waiting, which is ugly and works.

Damage spreads. An ink blot on an OLED grows. A crack across the digitiser ribbon turns a working touch layer into a dead one. The repair you were quoted in January is not always the repair you get in March.

Why did my screen break with no crack at all?

It happens, and it is usually one of four things.

A pressure hit, not an impact. Sat on, or squeezed in a bag. The display cracks internally while the glass survives, and you get black bleed with a clean front.
A loose display connector. Common after a drop with no visible damage. Flickering, a screen that comes and goes, or nothing at all. Sometimes a reseat rather than a new panel, which is worth checking before agreeing to a screen.
A known panel fault. Green or pink vertical lines on Samsung AMOLED and some iPhone models appear without any impact. Worth reading the Samsung green line guide or the iPhone green lines guide first, because these have sometimes been covered by the manufacturer.
A swollen battery. If the screen is lifting at one edge rather than cracked, the battery underneath is pushing it up. That is the urgent one.

Cracked screen FAQs

How do I know if my screen is cracked or the LCD is broken?: Open a full white image and a full black one. Clean picture under the cracks with touch working everywhere means the glass cracked. Black patches, spreading colour, vertical lines or a dead touch area mean the display underneath is damaged.
Can you replace just the glass on a phone screen?: On most phones from the last eight years, no. The glass, touch layer and display are laminated together and replaced as one assembly. On many iPad generations they are separate, so a glass-only iPad repair is a real and cheaper option.
How much is a cracked screen repair in Singapore?: At Citri Mobile, from $35 for iPhone and $45 for Samsung, depending on the model. Prices are nett with nothing added at collection.
My screen is black but the phone still rings. Is that the screen?: Usually the display or its connector rather than the phone itself, since everything else is clearly still running. Take a screenshot blind and check it elsewhere: if the screenshot looks normal, the panel is the fault. The iPhone black screen guide goes through it step by step.
Is it worth repairing a cracked screen on an old phone?: Usually yes, because a screen costs a fraction of a handset. The case against it is when the phone has stopped getting security updates, or when the battery needs doing at the same time and the pair approach half the price of a used replacement.
Will a cracked screen get worse?: Yes. The broken seal lets humidity and dust reach the connector and the board, OLED damage spreads, and a crack over the touch ribbon can kill touch that currently works. A cheap repair becomes an expensive one if it is left long enough.
What warranty do I get on a screen replacement?: A warranty of up to 100 days depending on the repair, honoured at any of our four shops rather than only the one that did the work.

Getting it checked

Four shops: People's Park Centre in Chinatown, Tampines, Yishun and Jurong Point, open 11am–9pm daily.

Send a photo of the screen on a white background and a photo of it on black to WhatsApp, and we can usually tell you which layer went before you travel. Walk-ins are fine any day, but message or call first so we can confirm we have your panel in stock. Diagnosis is free, and if it turns out to be a connector rather than a panel we will say so.