World’s First Waterproof iPhone With a Working USB-C Port Is Going Up for Auction

Three months in the past, engineering pupil Ken Pillonel efficiently reverse-engineered and hacked an iPhone X with a working USB-C port: a helpful function Apple nonetheless refuses to ship. Inspired by Pillonel’s ingenuity, Gernot Jöbstl has one-upped their creation with one other iPhone X with a USB-C port, however with an improved execution that’s additionally utterly waterproof—and sure, you’ll quickly have the ability to purchase it.

If there’s any doubt as to the demand for an iPhone with a USB-C syncing and charging port as an alternative of Apple’s long-in-the-tooth Lightning connection, Pillonel ended up promoting their upgraded iPhone X by way of an public sale whose successful bid was a staggering $86,001. Keep in thoughts that’s for a tool that’s not solely used, but additionally out of guarantee due to its {hardware} upgrades. If the iPhone 14 have been to reach with a USB-C port lastly, Apple customers would eagerly improve en masse.

Using Pillonel’s work and the documentation on their GitHub web page as a place to begin, Jöbstl’s personal personalized iPhone X consists of a few key enhancements. To increase the sturdiness of the added USB-C port they created a customized help, partially product of carbon fiber, that helps make sure the connection received’t come free after repeated makes use of.

More importantly, top-of-the-line options of recent smartphones is their means to shrug off a drop in a puddle or an unintended dunking in a bathroom. It’s a function typically compromised after a customized modification, however by way of the gratuitous use of tremendous glue that finally ends up largely hidden away inside, Jöbstl’s USB-C iPhone X retains its waterproofing.

To assist fund additional modding endeavors, Jöbstl plans to place their iPhone X up for public sale beginning at 12pm EST (17:00 UTC) on January 19, with the hyperlink ultimately being shared within the description of their YouTube video. Will it find yourself promoting for greater than $86,000? Assuming Apple doesn’t reveal a USB-C-equipped iPhone 14 within the subsequent 5 days, you’re most likely going to wish deep pockets to win this public sale.