As of posting, one can buy an authentic 32GB model of the iPhone 6s for $549 dollars, after Apple made the 16GB model obsolete upon the release of the iPhone 7. Still quite expensive for an old model of an iPhone, if you ask me.
But now there is an iPhone 6s that works just the same as the original and yet it only costs $300. Scotty Allen, a former software engineer, made it with parts coming from China.
Allen spent at least half of the last 18 months in Shenzhen learning about the electronics industry. In that duration, he went from market to market in China’s hub of knockoff phone parts to build an iPhone on his own.
He already owns an iPhone 6s, but we all know how engineers are – he wanted to know if it is possible to manufacture one using Chinese spare parts.
And so it was indeed possible. In a YouTube video entitled “How I Built My Own iPhone”, he documented every step of the process.
The former software engineer roamed around Shenzhen to look for the iPhone parts. He first found iPhone shells, and later Apple-branded parts in its markets.
Source: Scotty Allen
For him to easily put where the parts would go, he asked a retailer to have the back of the shell engraved with lasers and a vendor to put together a working screen. In Shenzhen, it wasn’t really much of a big favor.
Allen eventually had all the parts he needs: a working screen, a battery, a logic board (already preloaded with iOS), and the screws and cables that make up the innards of an iPhone.
Source: Scotty Allen
The assembly was quite a challenge for him so sought the help of a cell phone repair school.
“The biggest problem I had,” Allen said, “was fitting everything together. I banged my head on the volume buttons not working for about four or five hours.”
After overcoming that issue… voila! In about two months, he developed an almost brand new iPhone 6s that roughly costs $300.
Source: Scotty Allen
But Allen said that he spent over $1,000 on parts and tools he didn’t end up needing, including five extra phone backs, two screens, several batteries, bare logic boards, chips, and soldering stations from when he tried to make his own logic board.
Source: YouTube
