This hobbyist shows that it is possible
Apple continues to use its own Lightning connector on its iPhones. A Swiss robotics student demonstrates that there is another way: he gave an iPhone X a functioning USB-C port.
iPhones with a USB-C connection are not an issue at Apple, despite rumors that crop up every year. It is said that before Apple gives its smartphones such a port, the manufacturer will do without plug-in connections entirely. Nevertheless, the Swiss robotics student Ken Pillonel gave his iPhone a USB-C port after months of development.
As Apple Insider reports, Pillonel worked on the project for months in his spare time to achieve his goal of an iPhone with a USB-C port. To do this, he cut and dismantled countless USB-C and Lightning cables. The first sign of life of development showed Pillonel in May: He had developed a first prototype with which an iPhone battery could be charged via a USB-C connection.
However, his first proof of concept was too big and did not fit into an iPhone. The next steps were to remove all cables and crimp the equipment.
Further steps in the USB-C port development also included the reverse engineering of Apple’s C94 connector and the development of a flexible PCB design that fits into the iPhone.
Pillonel revealed the flexible cable in a teaser video showing the iPhone X charging and transferring data using USB-C. The inventor plans to publish a complete video in which Pillonell shows exactly how he managed to recreate the C94 connector and install his own circuit board in the phone.
The first iPhone with a USB-C port comes just a few weeks after the European Commission announced that it would oblige smartphone and other electronics manufacturers to equip their devices with a uniform USB-C charging port.
Incidentally, Pillonel no longer has a warranty claim on the iPhone: According to Apple’s warranty conditions, “unauthorized changes” can result in an iPhone in need of repair being classified as “outside the warranty period”. After all, the hobbyist no longer has to lug around different cables for charging Macbook, iPad Pro and iPhone.
