iPhone 5 Rear-Facing Camera Replacement

Make sure that your iPhone is turned off before you disassemble it.

Now remove two 3.6 mm Pentalobe screws next to the Lightning connector.

When you press a suction cup onto the screen, make sure to press it just above the home button.

Cup should be placed completely on the screen, in order to get a tight seal.

Check if the suction cup is firmly attached to the front panel assembly.

Hold your iPhone down with one hand and simultaneously pull up on the suction cup to slightly separate the front panel assembly from the rear case.

Be very careful, do it gently but apply firm, constant force. The display assembly is a much tighter fit than it may seem.

While you pull up with the suction cup, use plastic opening tool to gently pry the rear case down, away from the display assembly.

Front panel assembly is attached to the rear case with several clips, so bear in mind that you will probably have to use a combination of the suction cup and plastic opening tool in order to completely free the front panel assembly.

Slowly detach the clips along the left and right side by gently prying up around the sides of the front panel assembly.

Pull the bottom of the assembly away from the rear case once you notice that the clips have been released on the bottom and sides of the front panel assembly.

However, there are several ribbon cables still attached at the top of the iPhone, so be very careful not to completely remove the front panel assembly from the rear case.

Lift and rotate the front panel assembly up to about 90 degrees from the rear case.

The screws securing the front panel assembly cable bracket to the logic board need to be removed now:

Two 1.2 mm Phillips screws

One 1.6 mm Phillips screw

Remove the front panel assembly cable bracket from the logic board.

Disconnect the three front panel assembly cables using a plastic opening tool:

Front-facing camera and sensor cable

Digitizer cable

LCD cable

The LCD cable may pop off the connector during the reassemble of your phone. This can result in white lines or nothing at all to appear when you turn the phone on. If something like this occurs, all you need to do is reconnect the cable and power-cycle your phone. You can do this simply by disconnecting and reconnecting the battery.

Remove the front panel assembly from the rear case.

You should remove two screws that are securing the metal battery connector bracket on the logic board:

1.8 mm Phillips screw (1 piece)

1.6 mm Phillips screw (1 piece)

You should remove the metal battery connector bracket from the device.

To lever the battery connector from the logic board socket you should use a plastic opening tool.

Pay attention to lever the battery connector only, not the logic board socket. If you accidentally do so, the entire connector might be ruined.

Put the edge of the opening tool between the battery and the back case near the bottom the device.

Move the opening tool along the right edge of the battery and lever it at several points in order to separate it completely from the adhesive that is connecting it with the case.

Try not to lever it too hard, since this may deform or damage the battery completely.

In case it is necessary, you can use the exposed transparent plastic tab to remove the battery from the adhesive.

Remove the battery.

Pry the cellular data antenna cable connector up from its socket on the logic board, just above the speaker enclosure, using the tip of a spudger.

Remove the following two screws attaching the top logic board bracket to the rear case:

One 1.5 mm Phillips screw

One 2.3 mm Phillips screw

Remove the bracket from the top of the logic board.

Be very careful not to break off the tiny grounding tab that sticks up off of the bracket next to the rear facing camera.

Disconnect the following three cables from the logic board using the flat end of a spudger:

Upper interconnect cable

Button assembly cable

Lower interconnect cable

Remove the two 1.3 mm Phillips screws from the inner top of the rear case.

Remove the single 1.2 mm Phillips screw that remained in the mid-section logic board bracket.

Remove the mid-section bracket from the logic board.

Pry the Lightning connector cable connector up from its socket on the logic board using a spudger.

Slowly and carefully peel the cable back and out of the way of the logic board.

Depress the SIM card release on the right side of the iPhone with a SIM card eject tool or a bent paperclip to eject the SIM card tray.

Remove the SIM card tray from the iPhone.

Remove the following screws attaching the logic board to the rear case:

Two 2.3 mm Phillips screws

Three 2.7 mm standoff screws

Although these screws have a Phillips bit pattern, you can use our 2.5 mm flat-head driver as a convenient removal tool.

Rotate the logic board assembly toward the battery side of the rear case.

At this step, there is still one cable connected to the underside of the logic board, so make sure not to try to completely remove the logic board assembly from the rear case yet.

The flash surround is adhered to the flash unit and the rear case. Remove it with tweezers and mount it back on the flash unit in case it stays on the rear case.

Pry the Wi-Fi antenna cable connector up from its socket on the underside of the logic board using the tip of a spudger.

Remove the logic board assembly from the rear case.

Keep your logic board on a grounded anti-static mat while it is out of your phone, in order to prevent any damage to the circuitry.

Remove two 1.1 mm Phillips screws attaching the rear-facing camera bracket to the logic board.

Remove the rear-facing camera bracket from the logic board.

Disconnect the rear-facing camera cable from its socket on the logic board using the flat end of a spudger.

Remove the rear-facing camera from the logic board.