YouTuber Ken Pillonel has turned a nondescript Android phone into a one-of-a-kind device featuring a Lightning port normally found on an iPhone. Pillonel, who is a robotics student, had earlier added a USB-C port to an iPhone X that reportedly sold for nearly $90,000. In that case, the USB-C port didn't only charge the iPhone, it also supported data transfer.
More recently, DIY enthusiast Yang Changshun modified an iPhone 13 Pro Max with several new hardware features, including a USB Type-C port, a 3.5mm headphone socket, a larger battery, louder speakers, and dual fans for better thermal dissipation. Like the modded iPhone X, this device also reportedly worked normally, and even scored higher than a standard iPhone 13 Pro Max in some benchmark tests.
After getting widespread recognition for creating the world's first iPhone with an USB-C port, Ken Pillonel is back again, this time choosing to infuse unmistakable Apple hardware into an Android device. As can be seen in this YouTube video, Pillonel used a Samsung Galaxy A51 as the test-bed, replacing the USB-C port with a Lightning connector to create what was claimed to be the world's first Android phone with an Apple Lightning port. Pillonel also showed how a standard Lightning cable can simply be plugged into the modded Galaxy A51 to charge it from a wall socket, and demonstrated that the Lightning port supports data connections.
World's First Android Phone With Lightning Port
As for the motivation behind the new project, Pillonel joked that he had thrown the tech world into chaos with his earlier mod, so the only way to restore balance was by going the other way and creating an Android device with an Apple port. While he is yet to publish all the details about the modification, the clips that were posted as part of the teaser video suggest that quite a bit of elbow grease and a lot of hard work and planning went into the modification.
According to the teaser video, Pillonel had to dig through Chinese documentation and 3D print some parts before getting down to implanting the Lightning port on the Samsung device through good old soldering. Pillonel also insists that the video is real and the modded Android device very much exists, even though the video was posted around April 1st. An Android phone with a Lightning port is quite an engineering marvel, and one that will surely be a collector's item for someone willing to pay the big bucks.
Source: Ken Pillonel/YouTube