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Agree 100%

Nicely produced video, but I don't really get it.

He bought a working logic board as soldering and reballing the various chips was too difficult and costly. No arguement with that. It's not trivial. However, there's 90% of the work done for you. The rest just clips to the logic board and you whack it in a case.

Check out an iFixit guide and some teardowns. Hit up Ali Express or some online repair shops and order all the components. You don't even have to visit Shenzhen.

It's like me going to IKEA and buying all the different components to make a PAX wardrobe and then saying "Wow, I assembled a wardrobe as per the instructions! Who knew that would be possible?"

It's not really advancing anything new.
 
Cool video. I liked seeing those shops in Shenzhen more than the actual process of building the phone.

As others have said... building an iPhone from parts is nothing spectacular. It's how iPhones get made in the first place.

But it was cool that he sourced all the parts himself from the various shops in Shenzhen.

So can you just pop a SIM card in and use it? Does it have an IEMI number? Or a serial number that Apple has to know about to connect to Apple/iCloud servers? Can you update iOS on it?
 
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Why is it surprising he can make a working unit out of spare parts ? If i bought all the spare parts for a BMW X5, i could build a working car as well. No ?

the surprise is likely that he could find all the parts. mind you they are allegedly non passing parts from the factory so who knows how long that phone will keep working.
 
$300 for an iPhone 6S 16gb? That's ridiculous. I only spent $329 for my 6S+ 64gb brand new when it came out.

How much would a car cost if you bought it in parts?

The point here is that after you buy parts, and the person producing the part and the person selling a part, it still only costs $300

Also 6S 64 retail is not $329.
 
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This video really was fascinating. It truly shows you somebody who had a mindset and determination to build an iPhone from parts. But more so, it shows you the culture and livelihood that China entails. I found it fascinating when he went to all these random shops to purchase parts to make this work. So it gives you an idea of what China's livelihood looks like and their culture.
 
I've often wondered if this could be done. I've been considering doing something similar with an iPod Classic as they aren't made any more and eBay is awash with spare parts for them.
 
Interesting and funny video. Cool project to do but I wonder if it would be possible to do something like this for iPhone 5S but exchange memory and storage for bigger chips and see if iOS will work with it.
 
it looks like he spent 1000$ and only 300$ went into the phone?
Wow that cheap. I mean + his work of finding ingredients and building will probably add up to close to real price
 
You missed the entire point and spirit of him building the iPhone. ... [snip] .... I don't think you could build the X5 if you purchased all the spare parts. I think you could pay someone to build it for you. You building it? Seems unlikely.

Maybe I missed the point, but I still say if i had the tools and inclination, I could build a car from spares ;)

I think the price difference between buying and building it by yourself is interesting. I remember 2-3 years ago, Volkswagen and other car makers were accused of selling spare parts in China for ridiculous prices, which they denied. A German economic magazine then built a VW Golf only from official spare parts and they ended up with paying around $120.000 for a car that's sold for like a tenth or so. Was really interesting!

I agree. Cost wise it would make no sense. But as someone else said, the journey is the reason.
 
Sooo, here is a question I did not see asked yet (and sorry, did not watch the video, too long :) ) ... what about unique identifier? Something that let's itunes / apple know there is a real 'new' iphone around that needs updates?

EDIT: ok, watched it now and wondering if his true project was 'I want to make a slick video, what topic might people actually watch'? In that he succeeded.

If I was him, I would have created a unique FrankenPhone, like rosegold with black front panel :)
 
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Nicely produced video, but I don't really get it.

He bought a working logic board as soldering and reballing the various chips was too difficult and costly. No arguement with that. It's not trivial. However, there's 90% of the work done for you. The rest just clips to the logic board and you whack it in a case.

Check out an iFixit guide and some teardowns. Hit up Ali Express or some online repair shops and order all the components. You don't even have to visit Shenzhen.

It's like me going to IKEA and buying all the different components to make a PAX wardrobe and then saying "Wow, I assembled a wardrobe as per the instructions! Who knew that would be possible?"

It's not really advancing anything new.

You're assuming he did this to prove you can create an iPhone out of spare parts when in reality he may have been more motivated to create a video that went viral.
 
Why is it surprising he can make a working unit out of spare parts ? If i bought all the spare parts for a BMW X5, i could build a working car as well. No ?

Well, that would actually be impressive, given the tens to hundreds of thousands of parts that go into constructing a car and the precise fastening specifications and custom machinery necessary to test and tune the assembly as you go. It takes hundreds of skilled people to assemble a car, and you will have to do all of their jobs.

Building an iPhone is just snapping some **** together. Those of us who do our own electronics repairs have effectively built iPhones or whole computers effectively from spare parts many times.
 
You can build a classic Mustang from parts for about $30K,

That's not a BMW X5. Cars were much, much simpler back then. I again posit that the list of specialized tools has grown from zero, and that engine hoist (of some variety) you mention is not an optional tool.
 
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