DATA RECOVERY CASE STUDY 

iPhone 16 Plus: Smashed & Severe Water Damage Data Recovery

Rescuing data from a severely compromised device requiring a complex motherboard split and VDD Boost short circuit repair.

Device

Apple iPhone 16 Plus

Issue

Water Damage, 1 Amp VDD Boost Short

Service

Board Split & Component-Level Repair

Result

100% User Data Safely Extracted

The Problem

This iPhone 16 Plus arrived in our lab in incredibly rough shape. The screen was badly smashed, the internal water damage indicators were fully tripped, and the device was completely unresponsive. It showed absolutely no signs of life when attempting to power it on.

Our Diagnostic Process

Connecting the bare motherboard to our DC power supply immediately revealed a 1 Amp standing current draw before even prompting the phone to boot. This is a massive red flag indicating a severe primary short circuit.

Using a thermal imaging camera, I identified a distinct heat signature near the top of the board. Diode mode testing and schematic analysis confirmed that a critical capacitor on the VDD Boost line was completely short-circuited. However, to access the full extent of the damage, I needed to split the dual-layered “sandwich” motherboard apart.

The Repair & Recovery

  • Board Split: I carefully applied targeted heat to separate the sandwich board. Inside, we discovered a massive amount of hidden liquid corrosion clustered dangerously close to the CPU and Power Management IC (PMIC).
  • Voltage Injection: Because the VDD Boost line connects to components all over the board, I utilized precise voltage injection to visually pinpoint the exact failing capacitor right next to the underfilled CPU without risking damage to surrounding chips.
  • Corrosion Remediation: I removed the shorted capacitor. Then, I systematically removed several heavily corroded ICs—including the charging IC, speaker amp, and Face ID power management chip—to thoroughly clean the oxidation beneath them before reballing and reinstalling them.
  • Jig Testing: Before fully reassembling the motherboard, I mounted the layers in our specialized testing jig and confirmed the short was gone and the device could successfully boot.

Result: The short circuit was entirely cleared, and the phone booted perfectly with no restart loops. We let the device run stably to ensure a 100% safe and complete extraction of the customer’s data!

Watch The Full Repair Process

Watch as we trace the 1 Amp short circuit, split the heavily corroded motherboard, and utilize voltage injection to save the data.

“This device contained four years of unbacked-up family photos and videos. Because the phone was completely dead and refused to charge, cloud backups had failed to sync for months. By performing this complex board split, I was able to successfully extract 100% of the memories.”

Junayd

Lead Technician

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