Those dreaming of a folding iPhone can look enviously at group of clever hackers in China who made one just to prove it could be done.
What they made isn’t simply a concept video. Their device is fully functional, and even uses a screen originally from an iPhone.
Clever hackers make their own folding iPhone
People clearly want bigger smartphone screens. Apple’s largest model is usually one of its bestselling. But at 6.7-inches, the iPhone 14 Pro Max is about as large as phone can get without becoming too bulky.
Several Android-makers offer foldable handsets as away to get a large screen into a small handset. They haven’t had much success, though. Apple is undoubtedly exploring making one too, getting patents on crease-free displays, hinge designs and bendable batteries.
KJMX saw no reason to wait. They hacked together a folding iPhone out of components from current iPhone models and a Motorola Rarz from 2020.
Don’t try this at home. The process took over 200 days and went way over budget.
The first step was peeling apart the layers of an iPhone X screen to get to the flexible OLED display and touchscreen. This involved ruining 31 screens until finally getting an undamaged one.
The Razr was used to supply hinges because it doesn’t bend the screen into an angle too tight for the salvaged iPhone X display.
The KJMX engineers then put an Apple motherboard and other components into the lower half of the flexible handset and the battery in the upper half. This required quite a bit of rearranging and custom cables to connect everything.
Once the folding iPhone prototype was complete and working, KJMX decided that standard iOS software designed for flat screens didn’t feel right on a foldable one. So they made some changes, including adding the ability to open separate applications on the top and bottom halves of the screen.
A temporary victory… for now
As amazing as the proof-of-concept device is, it only lasted a few days. An iPhone X display and touchscreen are flexible but not designed to bend over and over. Creases and bubbles began to form fairly quickly.
But KJMX is determined to make another, better follow-up model.
Watch the full video to see the process of hacking other the world’s first folding iPhone:
Via: Ben Geskin
