Mobile device repair as a new revenue stream?

[pctutor]

I have heard in various places that smartphone screen repair and other mobile device repairs are profitable and quick to accomplish. Having never done phone repairs, I would like to hear from anyone who has branched out into that field - your experiences, potential pitfalls, and suggestions on where to acquire the knowledge.

With PC sales dropping, and with mobile clearly the direction everything is going, I don't want to be stuck in PC Repair.

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

I have heard in various places that smartphone screen repair and other mobile device repairs are profitable and quick to accomplish. Having never done phone repairs, I would like to hear from anyone who has branched out into that field - your experiences, potential pitfalls, and suggestions on where to acquire the knowledge.

With PC sales dropping, and with mobile clearly the direction everything is going, I don't want to be stuck in PC Repair.

IMO to do it well, you need to have a retail location, a few hundred (prefer a $1K) of parts inventory and QUICK turn around - they aren't bad if you are detail oriented, smaller hands(not a REQUIREMENT, but handy), and of course only use quality parts.

They are higher volume lower profit at least in my area, we are VERY competitive, but run about $40 - $60 in profit on each, average repair takes 30 - 60mins, with the occasional 10min, and occasional 4hr one.

If you also buy/sell phones it is good, and if you are a dealer for a few companies it helps to make you become the "Cell Phone Shop"
I've been doing phones for about 3years, and do a TON of them... they can help pay the bills for sure.

 

[altrenda]

As a mobile tech, I found that there wasn't enough return for me to do them myself. I found a guy that does them in volume and does a quality job. I drop them off and pick them up the next day, then deliver to the client.
I make $20 - $25 per device and handle about 5 or 6 a week. I mainly do it as a service to my clients, giving them another reason to call me.

 

[dgiles79]

IMO to do it well, you need to have a retail location, a few hundred (prefer a $1K) of parts inventory and QUICK turn around - they aren't bad if you are detail oriented, smaller hands(not a REQUIREMENT, but handy), and of course only use quality parts.

I do agree with most of that, except the retail location part. I run a mobile repair operation, and get a lot of business. We offer on-site repairs at the customers home or business (so they can get it done during their lunch break, at home after work etc), and it takes me about 30 minutes to do an iPhone. People definitely appreciate a quick turn around on cell phone repairs.

I carry all the different iPhone screens in stock, so there's no waiting for pars (I would estimate I have $2000 worth of screens on hand at all times (you could definitely do it with less, but you may end up running out of a particular screen if you get a spike).

Definitely go with high quality parts. The cheaper stuff has poor color match (especially on the white), and you will get more faulty screens.

There's definitely money to be made in that market.

 

[pctutor]

"30 minutes to do an iPhone" - I assume this means that virtually all of the repairs you are talking about are just replacing the screen? I'm trying to relate this to my computer customers who are generally complaining of a virus, running too slow, error messages, etc. I guess it would make sense to do both iPhones and Androids too.

 

[dgiles79]

Yes 90% of the repairs are screen replacements. Then we have a few charging ports, speakers, power buttons etc.

 

[pctutor]

Is there any centralized online training for smartphone repair? Did you take any formalized training or just teach yourself?

 

[dgiles79]

I taught myself, I purchased various phone with broken screens off Craigslist and eBay, and then practiced repairing them (and then sold them and made some money). Ifixit.com is also a good resource, it has a lot of tutorials on replacing various components of phones, tablets etc.

 

[Patriot Computers]

I do agree with most of that, except the retail location part. I run a mobile repair operation, and get a lot of business. We offer on-site repairs at the customers home or business (so they can get it done during their lunch break, at home after work etc), and it takes me about 30 minutes to do an iPhone. People definitely appreciate a quick turn around on cell phone repairs.

I carry all the different iPhone screens in stock, so there's no waiting for pars (I would estimate I have $2000 worth of screens on hand at all times (you could definitely do it with less, but you may end up running out of a particular screen if you get a spike).

Definitely go with high quality parts. The cheaper stuff has poor color match (especially on the white), and you will get more faulty screens.

There's definitely money to be made in that market.

Mind if I ask where you get your screens from? To be honest, on the white screens I've done, i couldn't tell the difference.

The customers I've worked with have been very flexible. I order the part, and then when its in I perform pickup at night and return during lunch hour the next day. I have a full time job along with getting my business off the ground.

I have done some people polling and have gotten some interest in the iPhone conversion kits (i.e. leopard print, all blue etc.). That will be an interesting side project.

 

[dgiles79]

Mind if I ask where you get your screens from? To be honest, on the white screens I've done, i couldn't tell the difference.

The customers I've worked with have been very flexible. I order the part, and then when its in I perform pickup at night and return during lunch hour the next day. I have a full time job along with getting my business off the ground.

I have done some people polling and have gotten some interest in the iPhone conversion kits (i.e. leopard print, all blue etc.). That will be an interesting side project.

I use wholesalegadgetparts.com they always seem to have high quality parts, and they ship them out quickly. If yu order in bulk, you can get a few bucks off the regular price.

I have done some color conversions in the past, but I seem to come across issues with the proximity sensor occasionally. I don't know if its the different screen colors interfering with it, but sometimes the screen doesn't shut off whe you hold them near your face, which leads to a lot of "cheek muting"

 

[joydivision]

I don't think it is worth investing a lot of time or money into it as a long term venture, because everything is getting cheaper and also harder to repair. As discussed at great lengths hardware repairs are slowly becoming a thing of the past.

 

[SprinterTech-WI]

We do them all --- Androids, iPhones, Tablets, GPS's, Screens, firmware, software, jacks, and more.
I haven't really advertised yet, but we're launching a new referral program soon ($5/referral) and that should triple our referrals from the other dealers.

 

[Tucson Techie]

iDevice repair is a good buisness so long as you know what you're getting into. iPhone repairs are almost always emergency repairs. This means that, to make your customer happy, you basically have to drop everything you're doing and work on the iPhone. This can adversely affect your turn-around time for regular computer repairs. I have a 1hr turn-around for iPhones, all work done in shop. I takes me about 25 minutes to do a screen replacement on an iPhone 4/S if everything goes smoothly.

Competition is going to further drive the price down for iDevice repairs and already has. The question is how profitable these repairs are going to be in the near future and even whether the next generations of iDevices are going to be repairable.

There is also a steep learning curve. It's not so much that iPhones, for example, are hard to repair. It's that iDevices are extremely delicate and you need to hone a good technique over time, especially with iPads. If you trash someone's iPhone be prepared for an ugly customer experience.

You need to stock a lot of parts, multiples of each part because it's not uncommon to get defective units. We don't even do power/proximity sensor cable repairs on iPhones anymore because we can't find a good source for this part--9 times out of 10 either power portion of the cable or the proximity portion doesn't work.

If you think competing against Craigs-listers for computer repair is bad, wait till you start doing iPhone repairs. It's ridiculous how little some of these people charge.

I don't agree that hardware repairs are going to be a thing of the past. I think this is far truer of software repairs. Everything is leaning more toward hardware than software. 85% of my business is hardware related issues. This figure will go even higher if I start doing BGA rework. Has the price of an iPhone decreased substantially over time? Not at all. Apple just keeps coming out with new models. It's not in the interest of OEMS like Apple or Dell to produce disposable products. The profit motive drives technological advancement and keeps the price from dopping to the level of disposability. Are $400 laptops disposable? Not many of my customers would agree. So long as replacement parts stay cheap--you can buy a good quality 15.6" laptop LCD for $55.00, who would have thought that 8 years ago--cheap laptops will remain profitably repairable. It takes me 15 minutes to replace a laptop LCD and I pocket over $100 net. Indestructible LCDs may put an end to this job, but there will be others. Diversification was the main reason I got into smart phone and tablet repair and I can expand as needed based on demand.

 

[16k_zx81]

I have heard in various places that smartphone screen repair and other mobile device repairs are profitable and quick to accomplish. Having never done phone repairs, I would like to hear from anyone who has branched out into that field - your experiences, potential pitfalls, and suggestions on where to acquire the knowledge.

With PC sales dropping, and with mobile clearly the direction everything is going, I don't want to be stuck in PC Repair.

i can only speak for iphones and ipads.

iphones not so hard to work on. modular. easy to disassemble and reassemble as long as you have the fine motor skills.

ipads _very_ hard to repair and very big learning curve. Also if you break anything on the board its between $300 and a grand to replace.

Yesterday I borked the ribbon connector on digitizer on a $700 3g ipad. Not repairable.

BUT..... I am #1 in Google for ipad repair and I get _heaps_ of them coming through. Its probably 30% of my total repair business, and thats just since start of the year. The work is definitely there, but its not easy to break into from a technical standpoint.

Jim

 

[Galdorf]

I was thinking of getting into mobile repair also computer sales seem VERY slow, my store is unique i have 20%the store is computer with service in back the other half is gaming warhammer 40k,and various other miniature games.
Eg. a full army of 40k sells for $1200 one day we sold 8 armies.

 

[16k_zx81]

I don't think it is worth investing a lot of time or money into it as a long term venture, because everything is getting cheaper and also harder to repair. As discussed at great lengths hardware repairs are slowly becoming a thing of the past.

theres a bit of "throwing out baby with bathwater" in that statement, if you dont mind me saying so.

As long as the new must-have gadgets are expensive (Im looking at you, Iphone and Galaxy SIV), there will be a market for repairs.

Iphone and SIII / SIV are the main market in mobile phones and the handsets are still (and as far as I can see will remain for awhile at least) worth repairing.

The same cannot be said for the way PCs are going. I think they will have a shorter break and fix tenure.

Just my 5c as always.

For now, I think its worth hanging on to this baby for awhile. For now at least, it can definitely reel-in money.....

 

[altrenda]

You think people will repair $500 phones but not $700+ computers?
I am not so sure.

 

[16k_zx81]

You think people will repair $500 phones but not $700+ computers?
I am not so sure.

Thats not what I said.

Its a complex issue and I have posted my thoughts more verbosely in other threads on the subject. Your incorrect assumption is not representative of those comments as a body of discussion.