iOS 11.3 may break aftermarket iPhone 8 displays
Is Apple discouraging aftermarket repairs this way?
iOS 11.3 brought with it some improvements for your iPhone, including ARKit updates, new battery features, and a new message that informs you when it wants access to personal data. Unfortunately, if you had your iPhone 8 display replaced by an aftermarket part, iOS 11.3 might also stop it from working. According to a post at Motherboard, several users who have third-party displays are reporting that their iPhones are unresponsive to touch after updating to the latest mobile operating system.
As Motherboard notes, aftermarket fixes for iPhones are often a less expensive, and sometimes the only option nearby. Last October, a similar issue with third-party screens occurred, says the site, though Apple was quick to issue a software fix for the problem. "We don't even do the 8 repairs this year, on purpose," Ohio-based iPhone repair shop owner Michael Oberdick told Motherboard. "I had a really good feeling that something like this was going to happen again." Oberdick says the issue is likely a small microchip that powers iPhone screens that stopped working for aftermarket displays, which could mean that Apple is discouraging repairs made with non-Apple parts.
It's hard to say this problem is intentional or not, of course. We've reached out to Apple for comment and will update this post if we hear back.
