Your phone isn’t meant to last as long as a television or refrigerator. It’s not uncommon for most people to upgrade to a newer phone after just two years of use, and even the most stubborn phone enthusiast rarely keeps theirs beyond four years. Knowing when to replace an old phone is essential, as is knowing what problems can get worse if left untreated.
Phones are complex devices and you may not always know what issues are affecting your device internally. One area where you’ll easily notice issues is the screen. It’s important not to ignore certain problems because they can get worse over time. Some of these issues, including ghost touches, delayed touch response times, and unregistered touches, may seem like software bugs or characteristics of a slow phone. Other times, problems may be physically visible, like a bloated phone where the screen is lifted or dead pixels.
How easily these issues are fixed depends on a variety of factors, as does how quickly you need to repair or replace your device. It’s best to resolve these issues as soon as possible because they may indicate that you need to replace your smartphone.
1. Ghost Touch
Ghost keys are one of the most random but quite common screen problems encountered by users. They are also some of the most annoying, as you may not be able to access your phone to troubleshoot it. Additionally, there is the risk that these keys will accidentally change important system settings, delete applications or even send incomprehensible messages. If the problem goes away on its own, you might think it’s okay to ignore it. However, if the problem tends to reappear on your phone, you should not ignore it just because it is not an immediate problem.
Ghost keys can often be caused by easily repairable issues, and we recommend determining whether one of these is the cause before considering changing your phone. Your phone can register the buildup of dirt, sweat, and dust particles as touch, so cleaning your phone is often all you need to get rid of ghost touches on your phone screen. Using a faulty screen protector or poor-quality charger can also cause ghost touches, so be sure to try a different one and see if that helps. Other common methods, such as restarting the phone and updating system software, can also resolve temporary software issues.
If these methods don’t fix the ghost keys or the problem keeps coming back, that’s when you should consider seeing a phone repair specialist or even replacing your phone completely.
2. Lifting the screen
A screen protruding from the phone’s chassis should be one of the most obvious signs that you should buy a new one, or at least have it looked at by a professional. While most people will not continue to use a phone if there is a visible stretch, a screen that is only slightly lifted and still functions properly may not raise an immediate alarm.
Even if you think it’s okay to use your phone in these conditions, it can be incredibly dangerous and almost always gets worse over time. Dust particles and liquids may seep into the gap, damaging the internal components or the internal connections inside the phone may come loose due to the increased stress. Your phone is also much more fragile in this case, and any force acting on it will have more drastic results than normal.
We also need to consider the underlying causes of this disease. It might not be as risky if your screen is doing this due to physical damage, but if it’s happening out of nowhere, it probably means the battery inside your phone is swelling. Batteries are highly combustible, so you should replace a swollen battery as soon as possible.
3. Green lines on the screen
Having a green line appear out of nowhere on your phone screen is one of the most common display problems. This can manifest itself in different ways: there may be several green lines, the line itself may be thicker and extend over larger areas, or the color may be white or pink instead. The only thing that is common in all cases is that it is a phone screen problem that you should not ignore.
This issue was first commonly associated with OnePlus phones, leading the company to offer lifetime screen service and repairs for the issue, but it is now found on phones from all brands. It started showing up on phones that were downloading new updates, leading many to believe it was a software-related issue. The problem is almost certainly hardware related, and is often caused by a build malfunction or other factor beyond your control. This is usually caused by a misaligned ribbon cable or trace circuit that is physically damaged or subjected to high heat levels. The reason it often appears immediately after software updates is that phones typically heat up during an update, and if you update while the phone is plugged into a charger, that heat can damage internal components.
Even if your phone works fine with a green line, the display often deteriorates over time if left untreated. This is why we recommend that you have it examined as soon as possible. Fortunately, many companies offer free repair or exchange programs if your phone is experiencing this problem, because it’s almost always out of your control. Physical damage may also cause green lines to appear on your phone, in which case the free service will not apply.
4. Pixel bleeding, OLED rot, black spots on screen
Screen bleeding can refer to different things when it comes to your phone’s screen. There’s backlight bleed that happens on LCD screens where your screen has uneven brightness and there are lighter spots near the edges, and then there’s “OLED rot” that happens in OLED phones, manifesting as colored ink droplets.
Both problems need to be solved, but one is much worse than the other. A phone with backlight bleeding is still perfectly usable if you can ignore the display artifacts, and it’s unlikely to get worse. However, pixel bleeding on an OLED will definitely get worse over time, requiring a quick fix.
Spots on an OLED screen are caused by dead or damaged pixels, often due to physical damage to the phone or moisture leakage. The problem can get worse over time, often rendering the entire screen unusable. As soon as you encounter this problem, back up all your data and have the screen replaced immediately.
5. Keystrokes don’t register properly
A smartphone that does not save contacts is completely unusable. However, sometimes an old phone will save them most of the time, but sometimes you have to tap multiple times for it to work. This can be incredibly annoying, but you don’t need to change your phone immediately if the problem isn’t as common. However, depending on the cause of this problem, it can be a sign of many other problems.
As with ghost touches, a phone screen that doesn’t properly register your touch can often be caused by temporary glitches that are easily fixable. Follow the same troubleshooting steps as for ghost keys; clean your phone and restart it. If the problem persists after these steps, there is likely a problem with your phone’s software or physical hardware.
The most likely suspect here is a problem with the touch layer of your smartphone’s capacitive touchscreen – the digitizer – but other causes exist as well. A damaged screen, liquid spilled on the screen, and even something as simple as a phone protector can cause this problem. Similar to ghost touches, this can sometimes happen when you charge your phone with a cheap third-party charger – which is why you shouldn’t buy certain cheap accessories.
