Fairphone 3 Top Module Replacement

Written By: Adriana Zwink

Comments: 22

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

10 - 20 minutes

Introduction

Use this guide to replace the top module in your Fairphone 3.

Tools

Parts

Fairphone 3 Top Module

Step 1

Power off your phone before beginning disassembly.
Insert a thumbnail, or a prying tool like a spudger, into the notch at the bottom right of the back cover.
Pry the back cover up to start separating its plastic clips.

Step 2

Slide around the bottom right corner of the back cover to loosen the lower plastic clips.
Lift the back cover to release the rest of the plastic clips and remove it.
To reinstall the back cover press it firmly into place until you hear a snap from the plastic clips to form a seamless connection with the rear side of the phone.

Step 3

Use a fingernail or a prying tool at the marked notch to lever the battery out of its recess.
Lever the battery up until you can get a good grip.

Step 4

Lift the battery out of its recess and remove it.

Step 5

Whenever a Phillips #00 screw is mentioned you can also unfasten it with a size #0 bit/screwdriver.
Remove the thirteen Phillips #00 screws (4 mm length).

vis M 1.4/4 mm

Felice Suglia - 04/09/20

Attention : pour dévisser les deux vis du haut il est nécessaire d’avoir un tournevis assez fin, certains tournevis #0 seront trop gros et risquent de marquer les bords du trou, voire la caméra.

pichel - 28/02/21

I used the knife edge (on my suiss knife) and it worked fine. Of course, be very very carful not to damage the screws. In one hole I had to "sacrifice" a little bit plastic since the hole was a little bit too narrow for the knife.

Evaf70 -

no opening pick supplied with phone or part, it seems, and no picture of where to insert it

Jean Anne Campbell Leith -

Step 6

Make sure to insert the opening pick between the midframe and the display module and not into the small gap next to the screen. Otherwise you're going to pry up the screen instead of the whole display module.
Insert an opening pick between the midframe and the display module on the right edge of the phone.
Slide the opening pick down to the bottom right corner to pry open the plastic clamps of the display module.

Hello. I do not have an opening pick; one was not provided with the telephone or the camera module. How am I supposed to install the item if I have not been either provided with, or informed of the requirement for, a necessary tool? This makes it extremely difficult for a customer to make their own installations or repairs. Also, I do not have a spudger, and I had to look up what a spudger is. These are not everyday items found in most people’s toolboxes, so I feel that they should be provided, or a warning should be given when buying items (such as the camera module) which will require additional tools to install.

Helen Pearson - 23/03/21

Hi, you are right, there should be a hint to buy those tools. Maybe you have a guitar pick or a very thin spatula or putty knife. It is better to not use metal, to not damage the frame, but if you have no other tool this may help.

Fabian Gugger - 19/05/21

Attention de bien insérer sur la rainure la plus à l'extérieur, vous allez sinon decoller le joint fixant l'écran à proprement parler au reste du module.

Si ça vous arrive, vous le saurez en voyant que la partie décollée est toujours reliée par une nappe à la partie inférieure de l'écran. Pas de panique, appliquez quelques points de colle par dessus le joint d'origine et recommencez la procédure, cette fois dans la bonne rainure (et la procédure devrait vous paraître beaucoup plus simple ;) )

Geoffrey Fernandez - 19/04/21

Punaise, moi cette partie de mon écran se décolle toute seule. Juste un tout petit peu, par le haut. Vous me conseillez de le décoller plus pour pouvoir y mettre de la colle ?? Quelle colle serait le mieux ? (pas envie d’acheter un écran vu que le mien fonctionne très bien quand même)

Lucy sann -

Hello, I got frustrated when I didn’t find any opening pick. I’m not a guitarr player either ;-) , so I took a old credit card instead. It worked fine! I got a spudger when I bought the FP3.

Anyway, these tools are not common in most households, so they should be provided or at least they should be hinted that they are needed.

Mattias Ahlstedt -

Hey, I cut the edge off a stiff plastic packaging and inserted it. It was itself too wobbly, but widened the gap enough so I could insert the edge of a credit card which worked just fine.

Corinna Fischer - 07/04/22

Ich hatte kein Plektrum habe es mit einer Chip-Karte probiert, das ging auch.

Britta Hammer -

If you have somewhat long nails you don't need a special tool to begin opening it. Following the frame afterwards is easy with a plain screwdriver.

Carlos Izquierdo -

Step 7

Slide the opening pick around the bottom right corner and use it to disengage the plastic clamps at the bottom of the display module.

Hallo

nachdem mein Handy ausversehen runtergefallen ist, war das Display dunkel; ein/aus half nichts, akku raus/rein auch nicht. Es gab Brumgeräusche wie beim Starten wenn ich Start gedrückt habe, das Display blieb dunkel. Ich konnte das Display mit etwas mühe(ungeübt) ausbauen und wieder einbauen. Danach ging es wieder; Danke euch hier für die Anleitung. So ein Plektrum habe ich leider nicht mehr, ich glaub es war eines dabei. Ich habe mir mit einem kleinen Plastiklöffel geholfen, der ist jetzt mein Star :-)

Timo Strauß -

Sehr gut! Viel Spaß mit deinem Fairphone!

Fabian Neidhardt -

Step 8

Slide the opening pick along the left side to pry the display module up.
The display module should pop out of the midframe during this process. In case it doesn’t, check for remaining clamps you might have missed.

Step 9

Remove the display assembly.
To reinstall the display-module press it into place on all sides until you can hear a snap from the plastic clamps to make sure it sits flush with the frame.
If you install a new display: The new display module comes with a white plastic cover held by 2 screws over the processor and the connectors. This needs to be taken off.

The new display module comes with a white plastic cover held by 2 screws over the processor and the connectors. This needs to be taken off!

Joe -

ATTENTION !l’écran neuf comprend un cache plastique qui tient avec 2 vis ! pour monter le nouvel écran il faut dévisser les vis et enlever le cache plastique

Félix Béranger -

Die weiße Plastikabdeckung an dem neuen Modul muss vor dem Einbau noch gelöst werden (2 Schrauben).

Christian Schmidt -

Vielen Dank für die kleinschrittige Anleitung, dir mir als Reparaturmuffel geholfen hat, mein Handy wieder zu aktivieren. Hintergrund: nach einem Sturz war das Display total verpixelt. Durch aus- und Einbau des Displays wurden die durch den Sturz gelockerten Kontakte wieder neu verbunden und - siehe da - es funktioniert wieder alles wie am ersten Tag! Da bin ich froh, daß ich mich für ein fairphone entschieden habe.

Technikmuffel -

Sehr gut! Weiter viel Spaß mit deinem Fairphone!

Fabian Neidhardt -

Step 10

Remove the two 4.1mm-long Phillips #00 screws.

Step 11

Use a spudger to pry up and disconnect the top module connecting cable.

Step 12

Use a spudger to pry up the top module of your Fairphone 3.

Step 13

Use your fingers to remove the top module.

Conclusion

To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.

Information on what to do with the old module can be found on the FairPhone support page and in the FairPhone forum.

Take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler.

Repair didn’t go as planned? Try some basic troubleshooting, or ask our Answers community for help.

Author

Adriana Zwink

Member since: 18/12/19

54794 Reputation

3 comments

I just did exactly that, and the camera won't work. both of the cameras. when I open the camera app, it is all black, and seems like still loading for around 10 seconds, and afterwards it prompts the error: "open camera error id =0".

I tried to replace it back to the old top module and the problem remained the same.. @fairops

tried the fairphone builtin checks from "myFairphone" app, and both front and back camera failed for not presenting anything.. used the automatic form to reach fairphone customer support, but they should reply me in about 9 days...

meanwhile I cannot use my phone camera!

so please if anyone knows how to handle it please help

Danks -

now I see I can't use my flashlight too, the button is disabled and it says "camera in use"... although the green sign that should be on the top right corner to inform of camera status does not appear, so it seems like the phone thinks the camera is in use although it is not in use... disturbing..

Danks -

solved! (kinda..)
the connecting part of the new top module I tried to install was dirty, and so, after installing it, the connecting part in the phone itself got dirty too, which blocked the old top module to connect back successfully.

after cleaning the old top module and the connecting part of the phone, the old top module connected back successfully!
although when I tried to clean the dirty new one(which caused the troubles from the first place), and connected it, it still didn't work.
so not greatly happy about it I keep using the old top module.

disclaimer: the new top module I tried to install was a top module from a fairphone that was ran over by a car, lucky me that other parts survived and I'm currently using them on my fairphone without any troubles.

Danks -