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Repair site iFixit has discovered that repairing the cameras inside Apple’s new iPhone 12 smartphones will not be able to be, at least easily, done by third parties, as removing the cameras requires access to a proprietary tool that only authorized Apple technicians will have access to.
While trying to swap the camera modules inside two iPhone 12 devices, iFixit suspected something was up. After ‘exhaustive testing, comparing notes with multiple repair technicians, and reviewing leaked Apple training documents,’ iFixit discovered ‘the iPhone 12 camera is entirely unreliable when swapped between iPhones.’
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| Image credit: iFixit |
Below is a video from YouTuber Taylor Dixon, who also discovered this while attempting to swap cameras inside iPhone 12 devices:
This, of course, means any DIY fixes or even those by unauthorized third-party phone repair shops won’t be happening. The graphic below is a leaked chart from Apple that shows iPhone 12 models require an authorized technician to run ‘System Configuration’ to replace a camera module (or a display). Previously, these limitations were only in place for batteries.
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