iPhone 12 Repair

iPhone 12 Repairs: Still Everywhere, Still Worth Fixing

The iPhone 12 was the biggest seller of its generation and an enormous number are still in daily use across Essex. Five years old now, most of them are running on original batteries that gave up a while ago, and their owners have quietly concluded the phone is past it.

Usually it is not. A £55 battery and, where needed, a £75 screen puts an iPhone 12 back to something very close to how it left the shop. It still runs current iOS, still takes good photographs, and still does everything most people actually need.

All work is carried out at our Essex repair centre with a twelve month warranty.

Screen Replacement (£75)

A bonded OLED panel under Ceramic Shield glass, fitted as a single assembly. The 12 was the first standard iPhone with an OLED display rather than the LCD used on the 11 and XR, which is why it still looks good five years on.

• Cracks radiating from a corner, typical of the flat-edged design
• Areas that no longer respond to touch
• Green or pink lines running down the display
• Black patches growing larger day by day
• Ghost touches registering with nobody touching the screen

The flat edges introduced on this generation concentrate impact force into a smaller area than the curved sides of the 11, which is why 12 screens tend to crack from one corner rather than shattering across the panel. Check whether yours still rings and vibrates with a dark screen, because a dislodged display connector is much cheaper than a panel and we test for it first. For faults with no drop involved, read phone screen flickering.

Our iPhone screen repair page covers the process.

Battery Replacement (£55)

This is the repair we recommend more than any other on the iPhone 12, and at £55 it is one of the best value jobs on our whole list. Nearly every 12 that comes through the door is well below 80 percent capacity.

• Maximum capacity under 80 percent in Settings, Battery, Battery Health
• Shutting down abruptly with charge still displayed
• Charge falling in sudden steps rather than gradually
• Needing a charger by early afternoon
• The phone feeling slow as well as short on charge

Worth being clear about that last point, because it is the single most common misunderstanding we deal with. iOS deliberately reduces peak processor performance when a battery is in poor health, to stop the phone shutting down under load. So a tired battery makes a phone feel old and slow, not just short-lived. Replacing it very often restores both. Rule out software first with our guide on why a phone battery drains so fast, and see iPhone battery replacement for pricing.

Back Glass Replacement (£65)

Bonded rear glass with the MagSafe magnet array sitting immediately beneath it, removed with a laser separator. That ring is precisely why the job needs proper equipment: damage it and the phone stops holding MagSafe chargers and accessories altogether.

• Loose fragments scratch the camera lenses from behind
• The moisture seal fails as soon as the glass cracks
• MagSafe accessories no longer attach securely
• Wireless charging becomes intermittent

Five years of curing means the adhesive is harder to defeat now than it was when the phone was new. See iPhone back glass repair for the method, and the cracked back glass guide for why home kits go wrong.

Charging Repair (£55)

Lightning port with five years of insertions behind it. The internal contacts wear, so the cable still clicks in and feels secure while the connection has quietly become unreliable. Charging that works when you press or angle the cable and stops when you release it is the tell.

That said, five years of pocket lint compacted into a narrow socket is more often the culprit, and it is not a £55 repair. We clean and test before quoting. Try a different cable and mains plug first, then read why a phone will not charge. Our iPhone charging port repair page explains replacement.

Camera Repair (£59)

The standard 12 uses a dual lens arrangement without the LiDAR scanner fitted to the Pro models, which keeps camera repairs simpler and cheaper. The array sits proud of the body, so the outer lens cover takes the impact when the phone lands face up.

• Cracked lens cover with a healthy module beneath
• Blurry images across every shooting mode after a drop
• Rattling or grinding as stabilisation fails
• Camera app opening black or crashing on launch
• Ultra-wide dead while the main lens works normally

We check which of the two you need rather than quoting the module by default. Where nothing was dropped, phone camera not working covers the software causes.

Face ID and Front Sensor Faults

The TrueDepth array behind the notch drives Face ID. On five year old handsets we see failures from wear and from liquid ingress the owner has usually forgotten about. Refusing to enrol a new face, failing repeatedly in dim light, or reporting itself unavailable all point there.

Face ID is paired to the logic board at manufacture, so a damaged TrueDepth module cannot be swapped in from another phone and made to function. A torn or disconnected flex cable can be repaired. We diagnose which before quoting rather than charging you to find out.

Water Damage and Unexplained Faults

Liquid damage is assessed rather than quoted, and on a phone this age historic corrosion is common. Our iPhone water damage repair page explains the approach, and phone data recovery is there when the photographs matter more than the phone.

Anything else unclear carries a £15 diagnostic, deducted from the repair if you proceed. Phone keeps restarting and phone overheating are useful starting points.

Turnaround, Warranty and Booking

We keep iPhone 12 parts in stock, so in-store repairs are usually completed within one to three hours on the same day and you are welcome to wait. Mail-in repairs are typically finished within eight to twelve hours of arriving and returned tracked, most customers seeing their phone in two to three working days. Send-back postage is free and Klarna is available at checkout.

All eligible repairs carry a 12 month warranty on parts and labour whatever the age of the handset. Faults relating to our work are put right at no cost. New accidental damage, liquid damage and unrelated faults are excluded.

Book online through our Essex repair centre page, call 07939 990557, or contact us.

We also repair the iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 11 and iPhone 13, with the full range on our iPhone repairs page.