Folding phones are all the rage these days, with many of the major smartphone manufacturer’s having something in this form factor. Apple has been conspicuously absent in this market segment, so [KJMX] decided to take matters into their own hands with the “iPhone V.” (YouTube – Chinese w/subtitles via MacRumors).
Instead of trying to interface an existing folding phone’s screen with the iPhone, these makers delaminated an actual iPhone X screen to use in the mod. It took 37 attempts before they had a screen with layers that properly separated to be both flexible and functional. Several different folding phones were disassembled, and [KJMX] found a Motorola Razr folding mechanism would work best with the iPhone X screen. Unfortunately, since the iPhone screen isn’t designed to fold, it still will fail after a relatively small number of folds.
Other sacrifices were made, like the removal of the Taptic Engine and a smaller battery to fit everything into the desired form factor. The “iPhone V” boasts the worst battery life of any iPhone to date. After nearly a year of work though, [KJMX] can truly claim to have made what Apple hasn’t.
Curious about other hacks to let an iPhone do more than Apple intended? Check out how to add USB-C to an iPhone, try to charge it faster, or give one a big memory upgrade.
Incredible engineering, but I can’t see the point. Even the “real” folding phones will fail. Such is the nature of matter.
I need a thin slab that expands to accommodate new content, like The Expanse.
That’s an expensive”just for fun” project.
That’s what “Apple” stands for, no ? :)
I feel like folding phones are the solution to “the phone is too big to pocket” problem… is there any other reason why they should fold?
They still stay too big. The folding is just for the futuristic/cool factor. It’s a lame gimmick that will fade away I think
What’s wrong with that reason? I really liked the idea behind the Samsung one that folded out to a squarish tablet, but it had a phone interface on the outside too so you wouldn’t need to be constantly unfolding it.
The solution to “the phone is too big to pocket” problem is: making phones under 6″, preferably under 5″, again. There are a few, which are damn expensive. I hate using my recent 6″+ phone(s), but I def. won’t pay 600+ € for a smaller device. I tend to use my 200-250€ phones for many years, mostly till they break or are 2 Android Versions behind (or won’t get security patches anymore).
Just have larger pockets ya knobs
Who needs pockets when you’ve got a fanny pack?
I vote for that! I want one hand operated phones back.
Also foldable phones are thick so not pocket friendly at all.
Or… they could just make smaller phones. Most of the pixels on your massive screen are just duplicated/interpolated anyway because there’s no content in that high resolution. Just make the screen smaller. Please.
Yes it does, it’s called the iPhone 6.
Heh, you’re right. I guess the title should be “First unfolding iPhone doesn’t come from Apple”.
They’d get a lot more effective screen area if they simply made the phone slide a keyboard out so that the small screen didn’t have to be occupied by an on-screen keyboard.
I gave up doing emails on my phone for that reason… screen was 480×800px, by the time an on-screen keyboard was rendered, I had a 480px square to compose my email in. By comparison, VGA came out in 1987 and boasted 640×480. I felt like sending the email should be accompanied by a screeching modem handshake as it uploaded.
Apple? Return to physical buttons? I’m convinced they have been priming the market for eliminating physical keyboards on their laptops for years. No way in hell they’ll ever add one to a phone again.
They would get a lot more usable screen area if they made it 1/2 wider instead of 2″ taller.
Why is this tagged ARM? The CPU is irrelevant
Very neat hack, so tedious
“arm” means “poor” in german, that’s what you become when buying Apple-stuff…
My mom bought a folding phone when they first came out. Within a year, the screen cracked at the fold–and she isn’t a heavy user (she’s 75).
How strange. I would have never had thought that would be possible. /Sarcasm
Phone makers make what the idiot customer wants, not what he needs as he/she does not know that.
Those foldable phones have existed for years. One half is the LCD, the other half is the keyboard, and most of all, they were reasonably sturdy and would last a long time as long as you treat them not too rough.
I really liked the Psion Series 5 form factor, and I probably would still use it if it had a better quality LCD (That is speed and contrast, I don’t care about color much for such a thing) and the thing was Linux compatible. I also very much appreciated the 30+ hours on two AA’s. Ah those were the days.
There are some nice small linux computers in that format, but I’m not willing to pay EUR800 for one of those.
I had hope for PinePhone (150$) with PinePhone keyboard (50$). But than – software is still a bit experimental.
I want the roll up phone like in the old SciFi show Earth Final Conflict (aired ’97-2002 produced by Gene and Majel Roddeberry).
Roll up screens were demonstrated a couple years ago, so it’ll probably be a thing, one day.
They used an iPhone ten and called it an iPhone five… Curious.
Why are my comments attaching to the last comment as replies? Lol