Apple fans or not, we’ve all been waiting years for the release of the first foldable iPhone. It is known that those of Cupertino already have some prototypes at home, but it is not yet ready to launch.
However, this hasn’t stopped someone else from getting tired of waiting and unofficially coming forward. The first foldable iPhone is already a reality, a fan created it and it looks like this .
He did not want to wait for Apple and created his own folding iPhone at home
The latest reports on the foldable iPhone put its launch in 2023, but one fan of the company decided to jump into the water much earlier. The result? The iPhone V, a modified version of the iPhone capable of folding its screen .
The project comes from the YouTube channel 科技美学, belonging to a Chinese engineer who is a fan of mobile devices. The creator assures that it was not an easy job, since he had to go through many trial and error tests to achieve his goal. In fact, the foldable iPhone V took 5 months to complete .
The biggest challenge was on the screen , because he wanted to use an original iPhone panel for this modification (which is not foldable). After several tests, the panel chosen was that of the iPhone X, from which several layers had to be removed so that it could fold.
Then the next step was the choice of the hinge. The engineer tried to use that of the latest Galaxy Z Flip, which allows the use of larger screens. However, Samsung’s hinge didn’t cut it for two reasons: The fold gap was too small for a screen that doesn’t fold, and it snapped shut with too much force. The winning alternative was the 2019 Motorola Razr’s hinge , which is smaller, but leaves more room for the fold.
The folding iPhone case was created with a 3D printer , based on the youtuber’s own design. In addition, the motherboard and the rest of the internal hardware of the iPhone underwent extensive modifications in order to adapt them to the new format.
As a further achievement, the iPhone V is not just a display model, it’s also fully functional . The applications and the operating system are obviously not adapted for this configuration, but you can use this iPhone without problem.
It will hardly happen, but Apple should look for the contact of this subject to help them . His mod is quite a feat of engineering, although obviously not a perfect adaptation.
