After the issue appeared, I contacted Apple Support, who advised me to perform a hard reset. When that didn’t help, I took the device to my local Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP). They ran diagnostic tests, including multiple reboots, but the horizontal lines persisted. Their diagnosis: a faulty display assembly. Unfortunately, since my device was out of warranty, the repair quote was an outrageous $456.57 USD!

I reached out to Apple again, expressing concerns over the excessive cost, but was told there was nothing they could do and that I should consider buying a new phone.

After looking into this issue further, I found numerous reports from other users experiencing the exact same problem:

• Horizontal rainbow lines in iphone 13 - Apple Community
• rainbow screen on iphone 13 - Apple Community
• iphone 13 - The screen showing horizontal… - Apple Community
• Sudden rainbow screen on iPhone 13 mini a… - Apple Community
• Why does my iPhone 13 mini have verticle … - Apple Community
• Flickering screen issue on iPhone 13. - Apple Community
• Display issues with recent upgrade to ios… - Apple Community
• iPhone 13 Mini display issue - Horizontal… - Apple Community
• Rainbow lines - Apple Community

These are just a few examples — there are many more similar cases.

I still have much older iPhone XR units that have never had any screen issues to this day. Given how widespread this problem appears to be, is there any way to push Apple to acknowledge this as a manufacturing defect rather than an expensive out-of-warranty repair?

Any advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated!

⟐ Commented M06 22, 2026 at 8:03 GMT-7

⟐ Commented M06 22, 2026 at 4:51 GMT-7

⟐ Answered M06 21, 2026 at 13:23 GMT-7

it fell on its backside late one night.

the back glass cracked with a terrible crunch,

now bits are falling off but not a whole bunch.

i plug it in and it charges with hope,

but getting it working? im struggling to cope.

it reaches 1%,, then springs to life,

before restarting again like its causing me strife.

unlock the screen? it says "not today!"

then shuts itself down and goes its own way.

it powers back up, then crashes once more,

this phone is giving me drama, that i simply cant ignore.

so tech wizards, gurus, and fixit pros too,

does anyone know what im supposed to do?

is there a simple repair i can try,

or has my phone officially said goodbye????

ps... it occasionally charges and works normally for a while

⟐ Answered M06 21, 2026 at 13:22 GMT-7

⟐ Answer accepted M06 21, 2026 at 12:24 GMT-7

Replaced my phone's battery following this video and after turning the phone on I noticed a spark and some smoke coming from the top screen ribbon connector. The screen displayed the flashing signal to charge battery and the top connector popped off. once the screen stopped flashing i unplugged all the connectors and tried again. phone turned on without issue but I noted smoking and excessive heat at both of the screen ribbon connectors. screen worked fine, scrolled and touched well. removed the screen and unplugged the battery.

I do not know what type of damage I have done to my phone and wanted to know if anyone could possibly provide some insight. I thought the connectors were fully plugged into the device when attempting to power it on but I am guessing they weren't. Before you ask: yes, the battery was plugged in, I followed the video and realize now that I should not have done that.

any advice/pointers/ideas? I am looking for a repair shop right now but worry that i fried/shorted something tiny that would require mirco soldering.

⟐ Commented M06 20, 2026 at 18:28 GMT-7

I'm trying to identify the component behind a recurring SMC panic on an iPhone 16 Pro Max (iPhone17,2).

• iPhone 16 Pro Max (iPhone17,2)
• Current iOS version installed
• Device had a liquid exposure / water damage incident approximately 3 months ago

• Phone boots normally
• All functions appear to work correctly
• Cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth, cameras, Face ID, charging, speakers and microphones appear functional
• No noticeable overheating
• No performance issues
• Device consistently reboots after approximately 2 minutes 50 seconds of uptime (~180 seconds)

I have collected multiple panic-full logs from different reboots.

All logs show the same panic:

SMC PANIC - ASSERT
SMC BSC failure, TAOC

Additional entries:

Misc(2) OUTBOX1 not ready

Sensor data:

S.sensor array 0 - 7 is:
0, 2097152, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

F.sensor array 0 - 1 is:
0

The value is always:

2097152

which equals:

0x200000

• Opened device and visually inspected logic board and connectors
• No visible corrosion found
• No green residue
• No obvious liquid damage remains
• Cleaned accessible connectors with IPA (isopropyl alcohol)
• Reassembled device successfully
• Issue remains unchanged

Does anyone know what TAOC maps to on the iPhone 16 Pro Max / iPhone17,2?

Is TAOC:

• a temperature sensor?
• part of the USB-C / charging port assembly?
• a sensor on the lower daughterboard?
• a logic board sensor?
• another SMC-monitored peripheral?

Before moving to board-level repair I am considering replacing the complete lower USB-C / charging port assembly because of the previous liquid exposure.

Any information regarding TAOC, sensor array bit 0x200000, or similar cases would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

⟐ Commented M06 20, 2026 at 10:28 GMT-7

Here are the details:

• The phone sometimes powers on, shows the Apple logo, and then immediately restarts.
• I have checked that all connectors (battery, display, Face ID, MagSafe) are seated properly.
• The device does not stay stable even without the back glass connected in some tests.
• Attempting a DFU restore does not work; the phone either restarts during the process or gives errors.
• All screws were double-checked, and no obvious damage is visible on the board.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue after a back glass replacement on the iPhone 16 series? Any guidance on diagnosing or fixing this problem would be greatly appreciated.

⟐ Answered M06 20, 2026 at 10:22 GMT-7

screen and won’t go away. Can I stop it?

⟐ Answer accepted M06 19, 2026 at 10:27 GMT-7

Tried restoring using both recovery mode and dfu mode. Both times it will get stuck on the same screen. What strange is that her esim is still registered even after restoring with dfu mode. Is this a hardware malfunction?? Have not seen this before.

⟐ Answered M06 18, 2026 at 18:23 GMT-7

⟐ Commented M06 18, 2026 at 17:59 GMT-7

I understand that this is not an original Apple battery, but I have heard that some third-party batteries are able to pass this validation and are recognized by the system as genuine batteries. Does the same apply to iFixit batteries?

⟐ Answer edited M06 18, 2026 at 5:16 GMT-7

⟐ Commented M06 17, 2026 at 23:58 GMT-7