This guy built his own iPhone from parts he bought in China

If you could, would you make your own phone? Like if you could purchase all the parts that make up a phone, would you like to build one? Regardless of what your answer is, you should know that it is possible to build your own iPhone from scratch.

Scotty Allen used to be a developer in Silicon Valley but these days, he spends his time travelling the world and just doing stuff. His latest adventure took him to Shenzhen, China, where he built his own like-new iPhone from parts he bought in the markets of Huaqiangbei, where all kinds of cellphone parts are available over-the-counter.

The best part of this story is the video Scotty made on the whole process. He was inspired to build an entire iPhone (which is freaking epic!) when he was at a barbecue joint in China and someone said, “I wonder if you could build your own phone.”

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He says he wasn’t sure the merchants would sell him some of the parts over the counter but he eventually built the iPhone from scratch, albeit with a few hiccups. He also decided to build an iPhone 6s rather than the more recent iPhone 7 because he already owned an iPhone 6s and would make for better comparison. Also, iPhone 7 parts weren’t as readily available as well.

In making the iPhone, Scotty used four main parts: Screen, logic board, battery and shell. He said the iPhone he built had parts worth $300 — for comparison,a brand new entry iPhone 6s from Apple costs about $549.

“I never really thought much about what happens when I get rid of a phone,” Allen said in the video. “I think a lot of them end up here, taken apart for parts or turned back into nice working phones.”

Stories like this are amazing because they are borne of human curiosity. People innovate, push boundaries and question the norm just to see what can be achieved. Salute to Scotty! If you are a maker in Nigeria, please feel free to reach out to us, and maybe we can tell the world stories about cool stuff you’ve built.

In the meantime, check out Scotty’s iPhone building process in the video above.