Teenagers Earn Thousands of Dollars Fixing Cracked iPhones

Teenagers are making thousands of dollars fixing cracked iPhone displays and broken microphones, with some earning north of $20,000, according to The Wall Street Journal. Grayson Shaw, who turned 16 in May and charges US $189.99 to repair a cracked iPhone 7 Plus, generated nearly $24,000 in revenue last summer fixing as many as nine smartphones a day. “I love to work”, he told the publication.

Cracked

Shaw, who has been fixing iPhones since the age of 12, is planning to set up shop in July at a table outside Jack and Charlie’s Ice Cream store in Nantucket, Massachusetts, to fix screens, microphones and other parts of iPhones and iPads. “I would think in any high school in America, you’re going to be able to find someone who has decided to be an entrepreneur and is fixing phones,” says Kyle Wiens, chief executive of iFixit.

Joseph Kokenge, 18, found customers among fellow high-school students in Lafayette, La. He learned to fix smartphones as a freshman watching his dad repair his sister’s cracked iPhone 3GS screen. Joseph Kokenge, 18, found customers among fellow high-school students in Lafayette, La. He learned to fix smartphones as a freshman watching his dad repair his sister’s cracked iPhone 3GS screen.

Debbie Anderson, 60, says she has known Mr. Kokenge through her daughter since they were in elementary school and has twice turned to him with a cracked screen. “Youth isn’t always an asset when you’re hiring someone,” she says, but “I had all the confidence in his ability.”

An Apple spokesman said that the company has long respected customers’ rights to get iPhones fixed by technicians of their choice, although it is best they turn to Apple-authorized channels, which use only Apple-authorized parts to ensure that their product continues to perform the way it did when they first purchased it.

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