Google Pixel XL Front Facing Camera Replacement

Written By: Arthur Shi

Comments: 20

Google Pixel XL Front Facing Camera Replacement

Difficulty

Difficult

Steps

Time Required

40 minutes - 2 hours

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 replace the front facing camera module for the Google Pixel XL.

The Pixel XL’s unreinforced display panel is fragile and is attached to the frame with strong adhesive, making repairs difficult. There is a considerable chance of breaking the display, especially if it already has micro-fractures. Be sure to apply plenty of heat and be extremely careful during the prying stage.

Tools

Parts

Step 1

Heat an iOpener and apply it to the top edge of the display for two minutes.
A hair dryer, heat gun, or hot plate may also be used, but be careful not to overheat the phone—the display and internal battery are both susceptible to heat damage.
Take note of the following regions before you begin prying:
Thin adhesive lined against the display panel
Thick adhesive
The OLED display panel, which is very prone to damage
The display cable, which can be damaged during prying

From my experince, it’s better to use a heat gun (if iFixit sold a good heat gun in volume, they should spruik that). Also, heat ALL sides at the same time BUT concentrate on the top part of the phone where the foam adhesive tape is thickest, second on the bottom where the foam is almost as thick. It also helps to use the 2nd & 3rd images in the series to visualise where the adhesive is.

Jon T. - 02/06/19

Ty for the advice I prefer heat gun but my first pixel

Michael Koch - 21/08/19

Step 2

Once the edge is warm to the touch, apply a suction cup close to the edge.
Lift on the suction cup, and insert an opening pick into the gap.
Do not insert the pick more than 13 mm (0.5 inches), or you will damage the display assembly.
If you have trouble creating a gap, reheat the edge and try again.
You can also try to use a playing card instead of an opening pick to help make the initial entry.

From my experience, I had to use a thin blade (such as the ones included with the deluxe iFixit repair kit) to slide into the small gap, and cut away at the foam adhesive. Once enough of a gap is created, the picks can then be used to push the adhesive aside - but the adhesive is so thick, especially -as Brewmaster396 observed in the comments below - at the top right corner behind the screen, that the knife is required to cut it. I failed here - cracking the back layer of my screen - because I didn’t take time to cut all the adhesive away from that thick part, and kept trying to pull the screen off. It doesn’t take a lot of pressure to crack - so maybe it’s more a thing of cutting and floating the screen up, not pulling and prying.

Jon T. - 02/06/19

Mark the picks with lines that show how deep you can go in that part of the screen. This will help keep you from accidentally hitting the fragile screen

Matthew Goodwin - 21/09/19

Matthew Goodwin - Excellent suggestion.

casper911ca - 05/12/19

Jon T made a great suggestion about creating a mark on the picks (see above).

Matthew Goodwin responds with an “Excellent suggestion.”

Here we are 8 months later and no lines on the picks in my new pro-tech tool kit, not sure why this hasn’t been implemented at this point in time.

Bob H.

Bob Hawley - 26/05/20

Thin, but sturdy pieces of paper (playing cards, bits of paper box packaging) helped me a lot when trying to open my screen. The plastic picks are useful, but very slippery so you should use extra caution when applying pressure with those.

diplomat - 30/06/20

Step 3

Slide the opening clip across the top edge to slice through the adhesive.
Be sure not to cut deeper than 13 mm (0.5 inches) or you will damage the display.
There's a mesh covering the earpiece speaker on the top edge of the screen. If you don’t have a replacement mesh, take care not to damage or lose this component.
Leave an opening pick in the edge to prevent the adhesive from resealing.

Step 4

Heat an iOpener and apply it to the right edge of the phone for two minutes.
Insert an opening pick near the top edge of the phone, where you have already sliced the adhesive.
Slowly guide the pick around the right corner.
Carefully slide the pick down the right edge of the phone to slice through the adhesive.
Do not insert the pick more than 1 mm (1/32") along the edge, or you will damage the display assembly.
Repeat the step for the left edge of the phone.

Step 5

Heat the bottom edge with an iOpener for two minutes.
Insert a pick near the right edge where you have already loosened the adhesive.
Carefully guide the pick around the corner.
Slide the pick along the bottom edge to slice through the adhesive.
Do not slice deeper than 8.5 mm (1/3") or you will damage the display cable.

Step 6

Once you have sliced around the perimeter of the phone, carefully lift the display assembly up slightly by the right corners.
Do not attempt to remove the display assembly. It is still attached by a flex cable.
Use an opening pick to slice through any remaining adhesive.

As long as you’ve disengaged the adhesive relatively evenly around all sides, I found mounting the suction cup in the middle (biased a little to the left or right side), helps a lot on this step.

casper911ca - 05/12/19

do I need to get a screen adhesive when it goes back?

dzboy15 -

Step 7

Lift the display assembly from the top end and swing it around such that it rests upside down on the frame.
Be careful not to strain the flex cable when you swing the assembly around.

Step 8

Remove the two 4 mm T5 screws securing the display cable bracket.
Throughout this repair, keep track of each screw and make sure it goes back exactly where it came from.
Remove the display cable bracket.

Step 9

Use the point of a spudger to pry up and disconnect the display cable from its connector.
To re-attach press connectors like this one, carefully align and press down on one side until it clicks into place, then repeat on the other side. Do not press down on the middle. If the connector is misaligned, the pins can bend, causing permanent damage.

i have to agree with the comment here about the connector. If you press it in the middle, it will bend. Resulting in either bent pins on the motherboard or the display. In my case it was both !

Richard St.Hilaire - 03/02/20

Be careful prying up the connector and apply force only from the side as shown in the picture cause in the longest side there are capacitors that can be broke doing the lever ( happened to me Repair missing capacitor near display connection port )

Daniele Maggio - 17/07/20

Step 10

Remove the display assembly.
For comprehensive instructions on how to reinstall the Pixel XL display, follow this guide.
If your replacement display did not come with a speaker grille, use tweezers to gently peel the adhesive grille from your old display, and transfer it to the replacement.
Before installing a new display, be sure to remove all traces of adhesive from the frame. Use a spudger or an opening tool to scrape it off, and use high-concentration isopropyl alcohol to remove any residue.
If you are reinstalling the same display assembly, be sure to remove all adhesive residue from the panel and the frame before applying new adhesive.
Be sure to turn on your phone and test your repair before installing new adhesive and resealing the phone.
During the boot-up process after reassembly, the screen will go through a calibration sequence. Do not touch the screen during this process, as it could result in improper touch calibration and create touch issues.

The Parts List does not state you need a replacement display. Is this portion of the Repair Guide copied and pasted from another guide (perhaps the screen replacement guide) or will I need to procure a replacement screen before I attempt to replace the battery?

casper911ca - 20/08/19

It is possible to replace the battery without replacing the display, but there is a significant chance you may break the display during removal. It depends on if your display already has micro-fractures, and how stubborn the screen adhesives are. I would personally buy a screen just in case, and return the part if I didn’t need it.

Arthur Shi - 21/08/19

Hello, I recently bought a refurb screen off of eBay to fit. The phone was 100% working before and just needed a new display/battery.

The battery came before the display. I wanted to test the display before doing too much reassembly, so I plugged in the battery, connected the mother/daughter boards with the interconnect cable, and then plugged in the LCD.

When I press the power button there is the usual single buzz from booting, but the display is completely blank.

Is the replacement screen DOA, or are there important traces/connections made by fully assembling the midframe and missing screws before testing the LCD?

If I already have all the ingredients for a fair test of the LCD, then it seems the LCD is bad?

Like I said the phone worked perfectly before… and if the new battery is dead, I would expect no buzz, or at least a battery graphic?

John - 26/09/19

Hi John,

If the phone buzzed, that usually signifies that it has booted up—having no image at that point usually means some kind of display issue. I would suggest disconnecting the display connector, carefully checking for any debris in the socket, and carefully re-connecting it.

I’ve also seen a comment in another Pixel guide that suggests plugging in the display connector before the battery. If that works, please leave a comment!

Arthur Shi - 26/09/19

battery connector is not accessible without removing the display first………. and reassembling, battery has to be connected first, then the plastic piece and then the display

Alan Sears - 08/04/20

Step 11

Remove the following screws that secure the midframe to the back:
Seven black 4 mm T5 screws
Two silver 3 mm T5 screws

Step 12

The midframe is held tightly in place by plastic clips which push into the edge of the back case.

Step 13

Find the small notch in the bottom left corner of the frame and insert an opening pick.
Slide the opening pick along the bottom edge of the phone towards the bottom right corner and leave it there.

This step was impossible on my phone as a gap could not be formed at the notch to pry the corner up using either pick or playing card . Flathead micro screwdriver was required causing insignificant cosmetic damage at that area.

Darren Bass - 22/10/19

This step takes a few tries, starting with the pick perpendicular to the phone. Eventually, after gentle prying, it will catch the corner so you can slip the pick underneath. Like everything in this repair, it requires you to be exceedingly delicate and patient.

Damian Matthews - 12/02/20

Take the tip of the tweezers, insert it in the screw hole near where they show to insert the pick and gently pry up. You should be able to move the plate upwards enough to insert the pick

Michael hobbs - 28/11/20

Step 14

Insert a separate opening pick into the right edge of the phone, near the bottom.
Slowly push the pick upwards along the seam until the first clip pops free.
Due to the tight tolerances, this may be difficult, requiring a substantial amount of force. If you are having trouble, try inserting and sliding a playing card.
Once you've released the clip, leave the opening pick in place to prevent the midframe from resealing.

I found that leaving the pick in the middle, and using it as a lever (think like bending a pipe over one’s knee and the pick in the middle is the knee) to “pop” the top edge up helped a lot more than trying to use more picks to pry this mid layer up…

Jon T. - 02/06/19

Step 15

Insert an opening pick into the right edge of the phone and slide it upwards towards the top right clip.
You do not need to insert the pick more than 2 mm into the edge. If you insert the pick all the way in, you may risk damaging flex cables.
Slowly slide the pick past the clip to disengage it from the frame.
At this point, the right edge of the midframe should be free from the case. If it isn't, slide an opening clip up and down along the right edge.

Step 16

Grasp the right edge of the midframe by the corners and slowly hinge the edge up.
When the left edge feels loose, stop hinging and lift the midframe upwards.
Remove the midframe.
To reinstall the midframe, align it to the case, then squeeze around the perimeter until all the clips snap back into position. When properly done, the midframe should lie flat.

Step 17

Use the point of a spudger to pry up and disconnect the battery connector.
Bend the battery flex cable slightly so that it will not accidentally touch the motherboard.

Step 18

Use the point of a spudger to pry up and loosen the front facing camera module. from its socket.

Step 19

Insert the point of a spudger into the headphone jack port and pry upwards to loosen the port from its socket.

Step 20

Carefully slide the point of a spudger under the proximity sensor board and pry up to disconnect it.
Be careful not to push the spudger against any of the tiny surface mount components.
Remove the proximity sensor board.

Step 21

Carefully slide the point of a spudger underneath the headphone jack connector and pry up to disconnect it.
Be careful not to push and dislodge any of the tiny surface mount components.
Remove the headphone jack module.