How to Make a Refurbished iPhone 5 by Cellphone Parts

Chris by Chris Cui

Published Tue, Oct 24th 2017, 07:16 | Technology


 

This sounds crazy that make an iPhone by mounting parts from the digital market. I tried it and I make it, and I’m here to share my experience with my friends here. I’ve been holding this idea for a long time since the refurbished iPhone showing in the market. I wonder if we have all the parts which keep an iPhone operated and works, why don’t we have a try. So when someone mentioned they wondered if you could build a working smartphone from parts in the markets, I jumped at the chance to really dive in and understand how everything works. Well, I sat on it for nine months, and then I dove in.

 

Since iPhone 7 parts are pretty hard to come by in the markets. iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s would be easier to make. A lot of the parts come from recycled/broken phones, and so it would make sense that there just isn’t that much supply yet. I also think there’s probably really high demand for iPhone 7 parts, so what parts are available may get traded before they make it out into display cases. In some cases, even iPhone 6s parts were a bit hard to come by (mostly the logic board). I keep asking people about this, and people keep saying things like “there should be more after Spring Festival” (which has come and gone) or “there should be more in a month or two – it’s just a temporary shortage right now”. I’ll keep my eyes out – it’ll be interesting to see how this evolves over time. 

 

Some mounted Parts of iPhone 5

 

Logic board – This is like the motherboard in a computer. It’s the circuit board that has the processor, flash memory, wifi/cell chips, etc on it. Everything plugs into this. The one I bought is refurbished and repaired, almost undoubtedly from a real, legitimately purchased phone made by Apple that was recycled at some point.

 

Screen – I really wanted to assemble my own. But there were two issues – you need a bunch of bulky equipment and I had an incredibly hard time trying to buy a bare lcd/digitizer. You can get them apparently, but they don’t seem to be readily available over the counter in the markets. So instead, I bought a broken screen from a phone repair booth, and had them completely disassemble and then reassemble it with new parts, other than the lcd/digitizer.

 

Battery – These are everywhere, and really cheap. Like $5 USD cheap. No clue if it’s real, but I was told it is, and it looks like it is.

 

Back/Shell – I originally wanted to make a gray phone with a black front, to match my everyday carry phone I bought in an Apple store. That way I would have something to compare against. But I ended up having a hard time finding a logic board with a black touch id button. However, there were lots of logic boards with white touch id buttons with rose colored rings, meant for a rose colored phone. So I ended up buying a second, rose colored back, hence the rose colored phone. The back I bought had an Apple logo, but zero laser markings inside or outside, so I’m pretty sure it’s not from a used phone.

Suggestions of buying a furbished iPhone on the market

 

If you want the best warranty on an unlocked refurbished iPhone 5 32GB device, I suggest you go with Apple Certified products. As long as I know, open box and refurbished are not the same thing. Apple Certified refurbished sell out quickly. Trading in old electronics could save you big time on a new Mac. No matter what, you should always double-check the refurbished model number against that of its new counterpart. If you want to learn absolutely everything there is to know about refurbished Apple products and learn a few hacks that will save you some serious cash, keep reading. We promise it's worth the ride.

 

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