Yeah but problem is “very carefully” definition varies with each person so it might yield unpredictable result as well.

Not if you follow the described procedure up until removing camera from the phone, its just instead of trying to push whole lens body out you tinker with the glass itself only.

Yes, by opening the phone or using anyone else besides Apple will void your warranty (and trust me unless very tedious and detailed repair person does it they will know) most reair shops don’t even bother to install new LCD seal even. GET A CASE if you wrecked camera glass in 3 days is my advice and ask Apple if possible for a fix try maybe to point out that you think it was defective and JUST happened on it’s own while charging on your table lol.

The camera is not sitting properly in the inside opening or not centered perfectly in it (could be physically damaged during removal as well). If you look straight at the lens glass and the camera lens is not directly in the center then that might be causing it. It ight be glue, piece of seal or rubber in the way too. Either way it’s not connector so don’t bother trying to connect'/disconnect cable trying to fix it, if it was connector camera wouldn’t initialize at all most likely.

I think it can RIP now. That’s why these DIY things are not for everyone and it takes sometimes experience as well as few sacrificial phones to learn hot to do it properly. Biggest mistake people do is not disconnecting battery first or use antistatic mats or bands while poking inside these delicate electronics. If you’re lucky it might be damaged screen only or it could be much worse and will require board level repair (which apple won’t do so your only other option is use 3rd party specialists and I’m not talking about those mall guys)

Yes, I did it with perfectly sized drill bit to drill through the weld connection (the lens body and metal bracket on the inside are welded with laser or some sort of micro dot welding, you can actually see those weld dots there. But you have to size bit perfectly to go through the connection but not expand hole in the phone body. I would say its easier to try removing the glass only, clean the glue connection and slap new glass in there, If followed same procedure as above when the screen is out and the camera itself as well it should be safe enough to heat up glass left overs to help them come out. Next time I’m trying this way instead of following not so easy method described above.

No, there’s no such thing as OEM lens replacement since original is laser welded to metal bracket inside so case is sandwiched in between so to speak (doubt anyone offers that kind of technology in repair shops), once you break that bond (if you lucky enough, since I could only do it with perfectly sized drill bit by drilling through that bond but not damaging the opening hole in the frame itself, forget “just “pushing it out, I was pushing until something else almost came out of my body without any luck on the lens part).

Lol, same story here, but I think the reason is that during the screen installation either the camera ribbon got damaged or most likely the connector got loose or unplugged while disconnecting lcd digitizer cable which is right next to camera one. I also had to replace the battery as well which was PIA because of de-soldering/soldering required on it. Either way I'm not messing with it until screen break again, front one works just fine.

P.S. I didn't mess with disassembling anything on the bottom part where home button is but having battery removed helped so I just disconnected the wifi antenna connector and worked from the side on the lcd ones.