Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

13

Time Required

                          15 - 40 minutes

Sections

4

  • Lower Case
  • 2 steps
  • Battery Disconnect
  • 2 steps
  • Antenna Bar
  • 6 steps
  • Display
  • 3 steps

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  • BackMacBook Air 13” Retina Late 2018

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Introduction

What you need

Step 1

              Remove the screws securing the lower case
  • Before starting this procedure, you should disable your Mac’s Auto Boot feature. Auto Boot powers on your Mac when you open the lid, and may be accidentally triggered during disassembly. Use this guide to disable Auto Boot.
  • If your MacBook is running Big Sur v11.1 or later, disabling Auto Boot may not work. You can proceed normally, but make sure to disconnect the battery as soon as you’re inside.
  • Completely power off and unplug your MacBook Air before you start. Close the display and flip the entire laptop upside-down.
  • Use a P5 driver to remove the following screws:
  • Two 7.9 mm screws
  • Two 7.1 mm screws
  • Six 2.6 mm screws

Before starting this procedure, you should disable your Mac’s Auto Boot feature. Auto Boot powers on your Mac when you open the lid, and may be accidentally triggered during disassembly. Use this guide to disable Auto Boot.

If your MacBook is running Big Sur v11.1 or later, disabling Auto Boot may not work. You can proceed normally, but make sure to disconnect the battery as soon as you’re inside.

Completely power off and unplug your MacBook Air before you start. Close the display and flip the entire laptop upside-down.

Use a P5 driver to remove the following screws:

Two 7.9 mm screws

Two 7.1 mm screws

Six 2.6 mm screws

1024

Step 2

              Remove the lower case
  • Wedge your fingers between the display and the lower case and pull upward to pop the lower case off the Air.
  • Remove the lower case.

Wedge your fingers between the display and the lower case and pull upward to pop the lower case off the Air.

Remove the lower case.

Step 3

              Disconnect the battery
  • Peel back the tape covering the battery connector enough to reveal the connector underneath.

Peel back the tape covering the battery connector enough to reveal the connector underneath.

Step 4

  • Use a spudger to slide the battery connector parallel to the logic board and out of its socket on the logic board.

Use a spudger to slide the battery connector parallel to the logic board and out of its socket on the logic board.

Step 5

              Disconnect the antenna bar
  • Use a T3 Torx driver to remove the two 1.4 mm screws securing the antenna cable bracket.
  • Remove the antenna cable bracket.

Use a T3 Torx driver to remove the two 1.4 mm screws securing the antenna cable bracket.

Remove the antenna cable bracket.

Step 6

  • Insert the point of a spudger under one of the antenna cables close to the connector.
  • Pry straight up to disconnect the cable.
  • Repeat for the other antenna cable.

Insert the point of a spudger under one of the antenna cables close to the connector.

Pry straight up to disconnect the cable.

Repeat for the other antenna cable.

Step 7

  • Use a T3 Torx driver to remove the two 1.5 mm screws securing the display cable connector bracket.
  • Remove the display cable connector bracket.

Use a T3 Torx driver to remove the two 1.5 mm screws securing the display cable connector bracket.

Remove the display cable connector bracket.

Step 8

  • Use the flat end of a spudger to pry up the display cable connector.

Use the flat end of a spudger to pry up the display cable connector.

Step 9

  • Use a T5 Torx driver to remove the following screws:
  • Four 7.4 mm screws
  • Two 4.5 mm screws

Use a T5 Torx driver to remove the following screws:

Four 7.4 mm screws

Two 4.5 mm screws

Step 10

              Remove the antenna bar
  • Lift the antenna bar straight up and out of the case. Take care not to snag the antenna bar on any cables or connectors.
  • You may encounter resistance from the clips in the middle of the antenna bar holding it in the case. You may pull hard without damaging anything as long as you pull straight up, perpendicular to the case.
  • Remove the antenna bar.

Lift the antenna bar straight up and out of the case. Take care not to snag the antenna bar on any cables or connectors.

You may encounter resistance from the clips in the middle of the antenna bar holding it in the case. You may pull hard without damaging anything as long as you pull straight up, perpendicular to the case.

Remove the antenna bar.

Step 11

              Remove the display
  • Use a T9 Torx driver to remove the six 4.9 mm screws securing the display hinges to the upper case.

Use a T9 Torx driver to remove the six 4.9 mm screws securing the display hinges to the upper case.

Step 12

  • With the MacBook still screen-side down, carefully lift the upper case to open the MacBook as far as possible.

With the MacBook still screen-side down, carefully lift the upper case to open the MacBook as far as possible.

Step 13

  • Lift the MacBook and carefully rotate the display to a 90 degree angle with the upper case.
  • The hinges should not move in relation to the display, and should rotate out of the case slightly.
  • Keeping the display at a 90 degree angle with the case, move the display straight down while holding the case still, so that the hinges slide out the bottom of the case.

Lift the MacBook and carefully rotate the display to a 90 degree angle with the upper case.

The hinges should not move in relation to the display, and should rotate out of the case slightly.

Keeping the display at a 90 degree angle with the case, move the display straight down while holding the case still, so that the hinges slide out the bottom of the case.

Compare your new replacement part to the original part—you may need to transfer remaining components or remove adhesive backings from the new part before installing.

To reassemble your device, follow the above steps in reverse order.

Take your e-waste to an R2 or e-Stewards certified recycler.

Repair didn’t go as planned? Check out our Answers community for troubleshooting help.

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                                                                                      23 other people completed this guide.

Author

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                    Adam O'Camb

Member since: 04/11/2015

173,479 Reputation

                                      418 Guides authored                  



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Aksel Barnes - Sep 17, 2020

Reply

So…….. Which one of those flexes is the camera flex? It seems you skipped over a lot of the connectors in your guide.

David Thomas - Jan 30, 2021

Jochem - Jul 21, 2021

I’m also interested in this. After a LCD swap, de iSight camera / webcam isn’t working.

larwood - Oct 25, 2020

Reply

Y’all need to give bonus points for putting it all back together again. Those T3 screws in steps 5 and 7 are awful hard to get back into place while holding the brackets in place. Not to mention the replacement display I purchased (from a third party) didn’t have the other two brackets in place, so I had to move those over from the original display as well.

The high res images in this guide are very helpful, and the guide is very well written and straightforward. Thanks.

colin - Nov 23, 2020

Reply

I have replaced the complete screen on my macbook air and followed these repair instructions to the letter, but for some reason the camera is not detected, I have double checked the connectors but still no camera detected when opening any app s like facetime, photo booth etc.