Introduction
This repair guide was authored by the iFixit staff and hasn’t been endorsed by Google. Learn more about our repair guides here.
Follow this guide to remove and replace the rear-facing camera for the Pixel 3. Since the camera is connected to the motherboard’s underside, you have to partially remove the motherboard in order to replace the camera. You can always choose to completely remove the motherboard, which would make the procedure slightly longer, but easier. The procedure involves removing many small grounding clips, which are easy to lose.
It may be possible, but more difficult, to partially remove the motherboard without removing the loudspeaker module. Note that removing the loudspeaker will compromise its ingress seal.
Tools
Parts
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Apply a suction cup to the heated bottom edge of the back cover.
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Lift on the suction cup with strong, steady force to create a gap.
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Insert an opening pick into the gap.
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Slice the adhesive along the bottom edge of the phone and around the right corner.
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Leave a pick in the bottom edge to prevent the adhesive from re-sealing.
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Continue heating and slicing through the rest of the phone perimeter. Leave a pick in each edge to prevent the adhesive from resealing.
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Once you have sliced around the perimeter of the phone, carefully lift the left edge of the back cover.
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Flip the back cover along its long axis and rest it so that the fingerprint sensor cable is not strained.
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Use the point of a spudger to slide the fingerprint connector bracket out from under the NFC coil.
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Remove the fingerprint connector bracket.
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Use the point of a spudger to pry up and disconnect the fingerprint connector from its socket.
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Remove the five Phillips screws securing the wireless charging coil:
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Two 1.9 mm screws
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Two 4.2 mm screws
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One 4.3 mm screw
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Use the point of a spudger to pry up and disconnect the battery press connector from its socket near the right edge of the phone.
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Remove the two screws securing the camera bracket:
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One 4.1 mm Phillips screw
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One 4 mm standoff screw
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Remove the camera bracket.
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Use the point of a spudger to pry up and disconnect the connector for the camera(s) you are replacing.
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Insert the point of a spudger behind the edge of the camera module and pry up to loosen it from the frame.
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Use the point of a spudger to pry up and disconnect the loudspeaker connector from its motherboard socket near the right edge of the phone.
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Remove the following four Phillips screws:
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One 1.9 mm screw
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One 4.3 mm screw
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Two 4.3 mm screws with thinner shanks
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Remove the tiny grounding clip from the left screw hole. Be careful not to lose it.
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Remove the small plastic insert from the right side of the USB-C port.
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Insert the point of a spudger under the bottom right corner of the loudspeaker.
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Pry up to loosen the loudspeaker from the phone.
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Insert the point of a spudger under the top left corner of the loudspeaker.
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Pry up to loosen the loudspeaker.
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Insert the flat end of the spudger under the top edge of the loudspeaker, towards the left edge.
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Pry up to loosen the loudspeaker.
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Remove the loudspeaker.
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If it is in good condition, you can re-use the gasket. Make sure that the gasket does not cover the exit hole.
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If the gasket is pulled out of place, remove it and replace the adhesive with a pre-cut strip or Tesa tape.
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Use the point of a spudger to pry up and disconnect the charging assembly's connector from its motherboard socket, near the right edge of the phone.
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Use the flat end of a spudger to carefully pry up the black tape holding the display flex cable in place, near the right edge of the phone.
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Use a spudger to pry up and disconnect the following seven press-fit connectors from their motherboard sockets:
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External buttons connector
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Top microphone connector
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Earpiece connector
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Left squeeze sensor connector
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Screen connector
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Right squeeze sensor connector
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SIM tray connector
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Use the flat of a spudger to carefully bend the earpiece speaker's flex cable upwards, out of the way of the motherboard.
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Remove the six screws securing the motherboard in place:
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One 4.2 mm Phillips screw
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Three 1.9 mm Phillips screws
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One 4.3 mm Phillips screw
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One 3.83 mm standoff screw
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Remove and retain the three small metal grounding clips.
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Carefully remove the antenna bracket from the top left edge of the phone.
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Orient the clips such that the silver side is facing upwards.
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The teardrop shaped clips should have their points facing towards the phone edge.
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The double-holed clip dips downwards towards the frame's top-right screw hole.
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Insert the point of a spudger near the top left corner of the motherboard, right below the rear-facing camera.
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Pry up gently to loosen the motherboard, bending all flex cables away to accommodate for the movement.
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If the motherboard feels firmly seated, check for any still-connected flex cables or screws.
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Insert the spudger underneath the top edge of the motherboard and carefully pry up to loosen the motherboard.
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Lift the left edge of the motherboard and carefully swing upwards towards the right. Carefully push any press connectors snagging the motherboard out of the way.
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Use the point of a spudger to pry up and disconnect the rear-facing camera connector from its motherboard socket.
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Lift the camera module away from the motherboard, peeling the adhesive in the process.
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Remove the rear-facing camera.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
Repair didn’t go as planned? Check out our Google Pixel 3 Answers community for troubleshooting help.
4 comments
Pixel 3 and pixel 3xl rear cameras are same. If I buy pixel 3 camera and can I use this on pixel 3xl?
Suren -
Time is not correct for this job. Only the disassembly itself takes 90 - 120 minutes. But assembly is a separate type of torture. Only to separate the old adhesive tape is very hard. For the instructions thank you, with bolts during assembly helped, but I do not recommend to disassemble it on your own. In my case, a professional replaced the camera for about 5 hours until I took my phone back.
It is possible to remove the rear camera without dismantling upper or lower speaker. The main PCB is sufficiently flexible. However, take care of the speaker connections while moving the PCB.
Most difficult step is the initial opening of the the back cover of the phone. I broke it (as it is made of glas), though being really carefully using dental floss to “cut” the glue. All other steps are not particular challenging.
Thanks for the ifxit guideline!
Older devices may require 2 or more minutes with a very hot iOpener. Also note, the photo shows the opener on the FRONT of the phone. The heat needs to be applied to the back of the device!
Rick Johnson -
I just realized that I was trying to pry apart the front of my Pixel 3… and have separated the class from the display. ??♂️ Even though the rest of the directions show the back, it would be nice for the first picture to also show the back, just to be safe.
JR Raith -
Agreed, I’ve done exactly the same and completely broken my display. I probably should’ve paid more attention to the initial steps before diving in but the step could do with a new picture for sure.
Daniel Fryer -
Thanks for the comments! I’ll add a note in the step warning people to make sure to pry the back cover, not the screen.
Arthur Shi -
I prefer my favorite opening method with something like this. Dental floss. So thin it can slide in the gap. A little sawing to get it far enough past the edge to lift and get the first pick in.
John Hoffstetter -
I found another wonderful tool. I used something like medicine packaging which is aluminum foil with plastic. It’s thin and strong enough!
Christie Lin -
I also went for the hairdryer, dental floss, and then the provided picks and this worked. Not easy to get that initial seal broken but once that's done the rest is pretty easy.
James -
I needed 20 nerve wracking minutes with a hairdryer
Amy schneider -
My battery had bulged and opened the case for me!
Warmed it up a bit with hairdryer
Floss helped also.
David Lincer -
I found I wasn't able to get the edges hot enough. I ended up using my heat gun (for shrink tubing) instead.
Kurt Nowak -