Genuine, OEM pulled or aftermarket?
There are really four kinds of replacement part out there. I fit three of them. Here is what each one gets you, what you give up, and how to pick.
Genuine
The same part the manufacturer fits in its own repairs.
What you get. The exact part your device was built with. On an iPhone or a Mac I buy it straight from Apple, matched to your serial number and calibrated after it goes in, so everything keeps working like it did on day one: True Tone, Face ID, full brightness, accurate colors, and a battery that reports its real health. New seals and adhesive come with it too.
What you give up. Only money. It is the most expensive option, and on an Apple repair the old part goes back to Apple.
Best for. A device you plan to keep for years, a newer phone, or anyone who wants it exactly as it was.
OEM pulled
An original part, taken from a donor device.
What you get. The manufacturer’s own part, pulled from another device of the same model and tested before it goes into yours. It looks and performs like the original because it is one, and it costs less than a new one.
What you give up. It isn’t brand new, so it has some use on it. On an iPhone, Settings may list the part as used. Supply also depends on what donor devices are around, so not every part for every model is available this way.
Best for. Anyone who wants original quality without paying for a new part, especially on screens and cameras.
High quality aftermarket
Made by someone else, to a standard I have checked, for a lot less.
What you get. A working part for a lot less, and sooner. I buy my aftermarket parts from Injured Gadgets, which sells each part in several grades of quality, and I always pick the highest grade they have. For screens that means soft OLED on any phone built with an OLED, and for batteries it means real, honestly rated cells. How close a part gets to the original still depends on the part, and screens are the clearest example of that, below.
It’s also faster. Aftermarket parts reach me quicker than parts from Apple’s own parts store, so at its fastest you can go from sending a request to walking out with a like-new device in one to two days.
What you give up. On an iPhone, a few things Apple only allows with its own parts. Depending on the part, that can mean True Tone not carrying over, a message in Settings saying the part is not genuine, or battery health not showing a percentage. The phone works normally either way. On most Android phones, laptops and consoles, the difference is much smaller and often nothing you would notice.
Best for. An older device, a tight budget, or anyone who wants it working well without paying for the last few percent.
Screens, as an example
Most phones today ship with an OLED screen. Aftermarket screens come in three grades, and the gap between them shows why genuine costs more.
OLED lights each pixel on its own, so black pixels are switched off, colors are rich, and it sips power. LCD needs a backlight shining through the whole panel all the time, which is where most of the trouble below comes from.
Genuine
The panel your phone was built with, calibrated to it. Right brightness, right colors, the battery life you are used to, and every feature working.
OEM pulled
That same original panel, taken from a donor phone. Original brightness and colors for less than a new one, with some use already on it.
Soft OLED
The best aftermarket grade, and the only aftermarket screen I fit on a phone that was built with an OLED. A flexible OLED panel built the same way as the original, so it is thin, sharp, colorful and easy on the battery. Up close, next to a genuine one, you might see a small difference in color or brightness.
Hard OLED
Still OLED, so blacks and colors stay good, but the panel is rigid. It is a little thicker, it can sit slightly higher in the frame, and the border at the bottom is often a touch wider. I don’t fit these.
LCD
The most budget friendly, and nothing like the original. The backlight means blacks look grey, colors look washed out, the panel is thicker and dimmer, and it uses noticeably more power, so your battery drains faster every day. The one exception is a phone that left the factory with an LCD, like the iPhone 11 or XR: there a high quality LCD is the right part.
Batteries and charging ports have the same kind of ladder, just less visible. Genuine is the top of it every time, and I will always tell you which rung you are paying for.
Cameras are the exception. For the rear camera and the front TrueDepth camera, I don’t use aftermarket parts at all. The quality gap is too big, and on an iPhone the front camera is part of Face ID. For those I use an original part, either new or OEM pulled from a donor device.
The cheapest parts
What a lot of cheap shops fit. I don’t.
What you get. A low price and a phone that works when you pick it up.
What you give up. Most of the rest. These are parts nobody can vouch for: screens with patchy touch that fail within months, and batteries that claim more capacity than they have, wear out quickly, and are the ones most likely to swell. You are rarely told which grade you got, or that there was a choice at all.
Why I won’t fit them. You save today and pay for the same repair again within the year. If the only way a repair makes sense is with parts like these, I will tell you it is not worth fixing instead.
How to choose
If you are not sure, pick “help me choose” on the request form.
I will quote you both, tell you what the difference would mean on your device and for that repair, and you decide with the numbers in front of you. Sometimes aftermarket is the smarter buy and sometimes genuine is worth it. I’ll tell you which.