A team of budding creators has made a foldable iPhone that took 300 days to develop. It works well, but it lacks some notable features.
Called the “iPhone V,” a name I love, this phone uses a hinge from one of the modern touchscreen Motorola Razrs.
This is a foldable smartphone, and it is one of the only foldable phones available in the market. The other flip phones that are widely available are the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and the Z Fold. Most other foldables are limited to a single market.
This foldable iPhone that these creators have made, however, feels like someone playing God.
From the YouTube channel KJMX, or 科技美学 (which roughly translates to technological aesthetics), the team started by taking apart the screen of an iPhone X and removing the layers of the screen, including the OLED panel, the touch module 3D and the screen digitizer. .
“The goal is to preserve the original screen and touch functions at the same time,” NaYan, KJMX’s YouTube host, said in the video (according to English subtitles).
Throughout the development of the phone, various iPhone screens were tested to see which ones work best with the foldable screen technology.
Internally, the components were completely rearranged to fit the Razr folding module, and after 300 days (and after buying thousands of dollars in components and phones), the iPhone V was complete. The operating system was also modified to allow split-screen functionality (like on an iPad), so apps don’t warp and bend unnaturally into the curve.
Unfortunately, to compensate for the folding mechanism, the team had to work on some trade-offs. The largest, shown at 3:14 p.m., meant reducing the battery size to 1,000mAh, which NaYan said was “difficult to last a day.” Also, after several days of folding, creases and bubbles began to appear at the fold line. Wireless charging had to go too. Folding ones are not easy.
Honestly, great with that, guys. As for the profile, it doesn’t really look like something Apple would ship, but this YouTube video makes me very excited if Apple really does make a foldable phone.
So where are we with the official foldable iPhone?
The foldable iPhone is still largely a rumor, with a launch expected in 2023 or 2024. Foldable iPads or Macbooks could also be on the horizon.
But obviously nothing is official yet. We don’t even know what chassis it will use, but it will likely use USB-C.