Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

This may be the strangest iPhone mod we’ve ever seen

By

Apple is rumored to be working on an iPhone with USB-C this year, but creative users have taken matters into their own hands and created their own USB-C-equipped iPhones. The latest of such mods is by an engineer who created an iPhone with both a USB-C port and a Lightning port side by side.

The iPhone mod comes from an engineer on YouTube. Using an iPhone 12 mini (though presumably, any iPhone would work), the engineer added another port to the iPhone. This means that not only is this modded iPhone capable of using the modern USB-C standard, but it can also do something as simple as listening to music through wired headphones while charging. Apple’s iPhones are capable of playing music through the Lightning port, so any combination of USB-C and Lightning-wired headphones or charger would work.

A modded iPhone with a Lightning and USB-C port on the bottom.
신들의 놀이터 / YouTube

Apple had avoided putting USB-C on its iPhones for years despite transitioning its MacBooks and iPad Pro lineup to USB-C slowly. Now, every Macbook or iPad you can buy comes complete with a USB-C port, with the iPhone being the only holdout.

[만들기]-아이폰 USB-C 만들기 영상2 / iphone usb-c

That’s set to change shortly. The EU forced its hand and issued an ultimatum. If Apple (or any other company) intends to continue selling phones in Europe, it needs a USB-C port. With that, the argument was over.

Recommended Videos

At the same time, it’s not clear if Apple’s USB-C move would make its iPhones interoperable with Android phones. According to one report, Apple currently plans on limiting iPhones with USB-C to charging with made-for-iPhone certified cables only. Potentially, you could charge your Android phone with your iPhone cable, not not the other way around, if this report pans out.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also says that the iPhone 15 and 15 Plus will support slower transfer speeds with USB-C compared to the iPhone 15 Pro models. Maybe this modded iPhone with two ports could ultimately prove less confusing when all is said and done.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Michael Allison
Michael Allison
Mobile News Writer
A UK-based tech journalist for Digital Trends, helping keep track and make sense of the fast-paced world of tech with a…
Apple offers peek at how it stress tests the iPhone
Apple testing the water resistance of an iPhone.

Apple tests the water resistance of an iPhone. MKBHD

Popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee visited an Apple lab recently to see up close how the company tests the durability of new iPhone handsets.

Read more
Apple’s AI plans for the iPhone just leaked. Here’s everything we know
The back of a Natural Titanium iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Apple is the only major name in the world of Big Tech that hasn’t made its ambitious AI plans public yet. But that will change in a few weeks, with a focus on reimagining the iPhone experience. Bloomberg, citing internal sources, has detailed how Apple plans to integrate generative AI experiences with iOS 18, the next major build of its iPhone operating system.

The company plans to push new AI-powered capabilities not just in such in-house apps as Safari and Maps, but also in experiences like the notification system and a supercharged Spotlight search. Notably, Apple will push the bulk of AI processing to the iPhone’s silicon, and only a minor portion of it will be pushed to the cloud.

Read more
Something important just happened to the iPhone 16 series
iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max larger displays.

iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max renders MacRumors

With  the calendar about to turn to June, attention on the upcoming iPhone 16 series will soon shift into an even higher gear. Along those lines, word is that production on a critical component for at least three of these phones is about to begin.

Read more