In this blog post we look at a badly damaged iPhone 8 Plus that came in for data recovery. The iPhone had been deliberately smashed several times against a wall. As you can see there is extensive damage to both the exterior and interior of the phone.
After other phone recovery companies had assessed the chances of data recovery from this phone as ‘negligible’ and ‘impossible’, Data Clinic were asked to take a look… We managed to get a full recovery.
As you can see from the photographs, the actual PCB board on this phone has a bend – not as bad as the chassis, but enough to cause significant damage. This caused several internal problems including a short to ground which was found on PP_3V0_NAND (a NAND power delivery line). Using the stereo microscope and phone schematics this and the other faults were carefully rectified.
After these repairs were completed the phone would boot successfully but the screen was not touch sensitive and we were unable to enter a passcode. The FPC connectors for image and touch on the board were all giving the right electronic readings in terms of resistance, and closer inspection showed slight damage to one of the FPC connectors. Once this was replaced full touch and data access was restored and the phone’s data was recovered.
