Brain Candy

iPhone 4 Transparent Rear Panel

Update: We’re quite sorry for the misunderstanding, but an internal miscommunication led us to initially claim these panels were made of plastic. They are in fact glass. We’re apologize for the mixup — we’ll be making the responsible parties walk the plank.


Transparent rear panel for iPhone 4iPhone 4 with transparent rear panel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We never judge a book by its cover here at iFixit. In fact, we usually remove the cover and judge it from the inside! Electronic circuit boards can be a work of art, and the complexity of their design is something we marvel at. We hold that sentiment for the iPhone 4, which has a cool battery/logic board layout that’s unfortunately hidden by its opaque rear panel.

We felt that was wrong — why shouldn’t you be able to see the sweet innards that Apple engineers toiled over so meticulously? We had to do something about it, so we put our heads together and came up with a solution: our new transparent iPhone 4 rear panel!

At this time, you can only install this product in the  GSM iPhone 4.  We have nothing against the Verizon users; Apple chose to modify the rear panel layout for the Verizon version, and sadly our panel can only fit GSM iPhone 4 units.

You can even go the extra mile and remove the EMI shielding from your logic board as a means to show off your iPhone 4 even more, although we don’t recommend you do this. It looks pretty dang spiffy without the EMI shielding, but that might cause the phone to operate improperly.

iPhone 4 with transparent rear panel

One of the added benefits of using this panel is that it’s made from plastic — meaning it’s less prone to fracture, and far cheaper to replace than the glass original panel. The lens and flash diffuser are already installed on the panel, so all you have to do is pop out the screws, slide the old panel out, and slide the new one in. As usual, we have a guide to help you succeed in your endeavor.

It doesn’t get any easier to modify your phone and make it look extra marvelous. The panels are in stock and ready to ship. Order yours today!