Kid got his first phone (iP13) which he paid for and has done a great job taking care of up to this point…or at least we thought. Somehow the back of the phone got destroyed inside the case. We noticed today when it wouldn't take a charge and I pulled off the case.

Anyone think this is repairable? Does this look like anything but impact damage? He bought off BackMarket with 1 year manufacturer warranty but I don't see a plausible scenario where that applies.

The hard case he uses has a steel post and a ring that swings out put finger through to hold phone or use to stand up on its edge. It lines up to where the damage is here. Guessing it got crushed against the back of the phone and the plastic case didn't provide much support against that concentrated impact.

Anyways, any advice is appreciated. I need to know whether to ask Santa to make a make a last minute wish list change.

I am going to guess that it is not salvageable. There are a lot of options right now with carriers for free or really close to free phones to worry about spending money trying to fix that one.

I'd take it to a phone repair store and get an estimate. I suspect that the cost of fixing it would be more than a new cell phone.

When I cracked the screen on my cell phone, I took it to such a store but it isn't a high end cell phone their repair estimate was for quite a bit more than I bought it for.

As others have said, you may be able to fine an independent repair shop who can repair it, but replacing the back glass is not easy and in most cases requires removing the camera lenses. I've had some in my family take an iPhone in for an Apple Care repair and once they see the back glass is broken they just replace it outright.

I assume even though he paid for the phone he's on your plan and you pay? if so, what credit card? Several have phone insurance as long as you pay the phone bill with the credit card.

Thanks for all the replies and advice. So there was a cell repair place close to my office so I took a chance and let them look at it. Phone is repaired with a new back panel and new charging port. They were even able to salvage the wireless charging capability. $130 out the door. I was shocked and my kid is super happy.