World's first foldable iPhone wasn't made by Apple

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After over 200 days of trial and error, an engineer was able to create a folding iPhone using custom parts and a hinge from a Motorola Razr.

Custom foldable iPhone built by Aesthetic Tech YouTube channel
Custom foldable iPhone built by Aesthetic Tech YouTube channel


Creative engineers love to build Frankenstein-like Apple devices like iPhones with USB-C ports or Mac mini with M1 processors stuffed into old iMac cases. The latest creation comes from a Chinese YouTuber called "Scientific and technological aesthetics," who tried to build the rumored iPhone Fold.

This YouTuber had a goal of building a foldable iPhone while preserving as many parts from the original devices as possible. As part of the design criteria, it had to be soft enough to bend while retaining the touch functionality.

The video shows the engineer's step-by-step process to dismantle what turned out to be dozens of iPhone screens, cut apart a donor device's case, and rebuild it as a foldable. They tested multiple hinge types from phones like the Galaxy Z Flip, but they chose a Motorola Razr hinge for its "small" display crease.

The video is in Chinese, but there are English subtitles. The process is incredibly difficult and involved.





A combination of engineering ingenuity, trial-and-error on delaminating Apple's iPhone screen, and some 3D-printed parts brought the folding iPhone to life. Many space-saving decisions had to be made to ensure the device was functional.

A tiny custom battery was built with only 1000mAh of capacity, a quarter of most iPhones. One speaker was removed, and all wireless charging and MagSafe components were discarded too.

Touch functionality continued to work fine, and iOS ran normally. However, the engineers wanted a foldable-friendly interface, so they installed custom software via jailbreak that was aware of the folded display.

This model is obviously considered a prototype by the designers. The engineer wants to continue perfecting the process and design over time and calls this version 0.1.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    DAalsethdaalseth Posts: 3,284member
    The line from Jurassic Park comes to mind. 
    JP234watto_cobra
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  • Reply 2 of 10
    Wow, the guy is talented!
    retrogustowatto_cobra
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  • Reply 3 of 10
    So where is the link to the video or did I miss it? 
    exsangusdarbus69pulseimagesbluefire1watto_cobra
     5Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 10
    thttht Posts: 5,913member
    I think headline is definitively false. I bet Apple already had an folding OLED iPhone in-house 3 to 4 years ago.
    applebynaturedarbus69radarthekatqwerty52bloggerblogbluefire1bonobobwatto_cobra
     8Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 10
    sbdudesbdude Posts: 307member
    Wow, that's a lot of stolen, and likely copyrighted, footage from Apple, long before you get anything about the foldable (and heavily compromised) iPhone.

    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 10
    DAalseth said:
    The line from Jurassic Park comes to mind. 
    Hold on to your butts? 
    mknelsonwatto_cobra
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 7 of 10
    danoxdanox Posts: 3,708member
    Stupid and disparate.
    watto_cobra
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  • Reply 8 of 10
    And now we can see, that this is completely useless hahahahaha

    Adds nothing to the phone.
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 9 of 10
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    To what end? The engineer can’t manufacture it, certainly can’t sell it, can’t offer it to Apple, so did it for giggles?
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
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