USB-C seeks to rule the roost when it comes to connectors, and even has Big Europe on its side. Apple hasn’t had to abandon Lightning just yet, but [Restore Technique] has put a USB-C port into an iPhone 13 to give us all an idea what it’s going to be like in the brave new future ahead of us.
The idea came about after disassembling the iPhone 13, and the project was locked in after seeing the first iPhone with a USB-C connector sell for $86,001 on eBay. The plan had to support fast charging, cable reversibility, and data transfer, without cutting out any functionality or compromising water resistance.
The concept is simple enough: take the C94 board from a Lightning to USB-C cable, and put it inside the phone along with a USB-C port. Of course, actually achieving that is the real challenge. Techniques from melting apart Lightning connectors to carefully peeling apart 0.5 mm pitch flex cables to fit 0.6 mm pitch pads.
It’s an impressive hack, and explained so well it’s actually tempting to try it at home for the sheer challenge of the thing. If you do pull off a similar hack yourself, drop us a line! Video after the break.
[Thanks to Keith Olson for the tip!]
Id like to imagine that the person who paid $86k was some incredibly rich dude who only bought it because he was impressed with the hack and wanted to reward the effort.
I’d assume it was more to create the media hype that followed.
To show Apple that this should be the default and Apple users to think outside of their box (= “Lightning” closet = fool’s golden cage)
You are dreaming… Most apple users like their box
Nonsense. I dream of the day that I have to replace all my charging cords with a different kind just so I can be like somebody else.