How to Tell If Your Phone Screen Needs Replacing

A cracked screen is easy to spot, but it isn't the only reason a screen needs replacing — and not every crack means the whole screen has to go. Here's how to tell what you're actually dealing with before you decide what to do about it.

Surface scratches vs. a cracked digitiser

If the glass has fine scratches but the phone still responds normally everywhere you touch it, that's cosmetic damage. A tempered glass screen protector often fixes the visual problem for a few pounds. But if you see spidering cracks, especially near the edges or corners, the glass has actually fractured — and that's a different problem, because the digitiser (the layer that senses your touch) usually sits directly underneath.

Signs the screen itself has failed, not just the glass

• Dead zones — areas of the screen that don't register touch at all, even though the display still shows an image.
• Discolouration or dark patches — often a sign of LCD damage underneath the glass, sometimes from a drop, sometimes from pressure.
• Flickering or lines — vertical or horizontal lines running through the display point to a damaged display panel, not just cracked glass.
• Touch responding in the wrong place — if you tap one spot and something happens somewhere else on screen, the digitiser calibration has been thrown off by the damage.
• Glass lifting away from the frame — sometimes from a drop, sometimes from a swelling battery underneath. Either way, it needs looking at quickly.

Can you keep using a cracked phone?

For a short while, usually yes — but cracked glass is a bigger risk than it looks. It lets in dust and moisture around the edges, the sharp edges can cut your fingers, and every day you use it, tiny shards can work their way further into the phone. What starts as a purely cosmetic crack often turns into a touch problem within a few weeks of continued use.

What a screen replacement actually involves

On most phones, the glass and the display are fused into a single unit, so a screen repair means replacing the whole assembly — not just the top layer of glass. That's why screen replacements start from £35 and the price depends on the model: newer flagship phones use more expensive display technology (OLED vs LCD) and cost more to replace.

Getting it looked at

If you're not sure whether your screen needs replacing or just protecting, bring it in. We check screens for free, tell you honestly whether a screen protector would do the job or whether the display itself is damaged, and most screen replacements are done the same day while you wait.