I hope this is ok with the site T&Cs - can't see an obvious problem but mods remove if an issue please.

My son dropped his iPhone XS crossing the road - the display cable has gone awry by the looks of it, solid white/green line from top to bottom of screen. Otherwise no breaks and still functions you just can't see about a third of the screen. Touch still works upon the screen as does face recognition.

I pulled out the spare iPhone 7 that I brought back from the UK and switched the SIM over - to find the UK phone is carrier locked. There's no clue as to which carrier though. As a 7 it will be years old and fully paid off so if I can work out which network maybe they can unlock it - but it won't have their SIM in to send the unlock to. It's probably my nieces, she would have given it to my sister, who would have passed it on to my mum, the chances of an official fix seem low!

I can see the IMEI easy enough. 

So two questions: 1) any way of unlocking an iPhone 7 from the IMEI alone?

2) repair wise, the XS doesn't look easy to get in to and the waterproof seals will go if I do. But if it's just a loose cable, maybe that's a cheap fix. Or do I go to somewhere for a more expensive repair (Dunedin based)? It was a GZ bargain ($300, thanks GZ!) so I wasn't planning on a big investment.

Also, having sold my old unlocked iPhone 7 cheaply on here to someone in a similar situation I'm hoping karma might help ;-)

cheers

b