You have to replace the digitizer and panel together, as they are fused together, unlike the V1/V2/Lite. That being said, the least expensive I've seen them is $102 on mobilesentrix. If you can't order from MS, try Amazon; they range from $108 up.
(There is a question at the bottom of this post that I'd like an opinion on from anyone)
As a follow-up, and because I get an error when trying to post a review (or post images to the review), I went ahead with MobileSentrix for a new display, which cost me ~$117 USD.
It is labeled as a "refurbished" product, which implies some amount of original hardware is present. No parts that I can determine are original. It is a third-party display from China. If the packaging wasn't the biggest tell, not having a crease in the ribbon cable or absolutely no scratches on the display does.
As for the display itself, it works.... well enough, I suppose.
When compared to an OEM OLED, the Colors, blacks, and Brightness are indistinguishable to my eyes. That doesn't mean too much, as it is subjective, and I am not super familiar with looking at OLED displays, but side by side, I couldn't tell which is which.
This is an image taken with my phone, so there is some amount of distortion. The original OEM OLED is on top.
Where it struggled, and forgive my lack of proper terminology- but near-black scenes. These are, like, scenes that transition from black to gray. In these moments, there was some aggressive green artifacting that occurred. This was most apparent in the OLED tester video I was watching, where a scene was gently lit by a light.
So, that is a very specific video on YouTube, but what about games? Well...
Below is a Screenshot of Metroid Dread taken on the console with the new display.
This is the same screenshot taken by my phone of the same console's screen.
Green artifacting appeared. Other games, like the Pikmin 1 Title screen or Tri's text bubbles in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, had this green artifacting.
It sucks that this screen is close to being good, but not quite there.
This doesn't seem to be an exclusive issue with MobileSentrix, as a review on
iFixit's screen suggests this is just an issue with replacement displays on the market.
The display itself, the digitizer, was pristine and functioned perfectly.
Question: Would this display be acceptable enough to sell as a refurbished console, or should I cut my losses, toss the display, and wait until I can get a genuine OLED from a faulty console?
I am a bit torn since that green artifacting bugs me. A lot. It may not bug others.
