Guy makes his own iPhone from individual parts bought from Chinese markets

[ObscureMammal]

https://strangeparts.com/how-i-made-my-own-iphone-in-china/

 

Quote

I built a like-new(but really refurbished) iPhone 6S 16GB entirely from parts I bought in the public cell phone parts markets in Huaqiangbei. And it works!

 

I've been fascinated by the cell phone parts markets in Shenzhen, China for a while. I'd walked through them a bunch of times, but I still didn't understand basic things, like how they were organized or who was buying all these parts and what they were doing with them.

 

So when someone mentioned they wondered if you could build a working smartphone from parts in the markets, I jumped at the chance to really dive in and understand how everything works. Well, I sat on it for nine months, and then I dove in.

 

More details at: https://strangeparts.com/how-i-made-my-own-iphone-in-china/

Someone in the comments asked: "How much did it cost you and how much time did you spend on the project in total? Also did touch ID work?"

Answer: I spent around 2 months finding the parts, making the phone, and shooting the video footage, and then another 2-3 months trying to edit the tons of video I shot into a coherant story.

I think the parts I actually ended up using cost about $300. But I have well over $1000 in extra parts, tools, and general dead ends.

And yes, touch id totally works:)

[piemadd]

This isn't off topic. THIS IS FUCKING BRILLIANT!!!

[vanished]

-moved to phones and tablets-

[shadowblitz3]

what would be more interesting is if he can make a custom phone from mixed parts from different phones

[piemadd]

1 hour ago, shadowblitz3 said:

what would be more interesting is if he can make a custom phone from mixed parts from different phones

That would be complex, but you could probably get one to work with modification