Man buys parts from AliExpress to see if he can build a working iPhone for cheaper than buying one

The Apple iPhone is one of the best technology products of the decade, and with the release of the 17 Pro Max and Air, the range only gets more intricate. But can you build your own from AliExpress for cheaper?

Toe-to-toe with Samsung as the biggest smartphone distributor in the world, the iPhone range is widely regarded as the most advanced product out there.

But the caveat is that to get a brand new iPhone, you’d be lucky to get much change from a $1,000 check.

So, what if you could just bypass the additional Apple fees, source the parts from AliExpress, and construct one yourself? Well, that’s exactly the test that YouTube creator ‘Phone Repair Guru’ has done, and the end product is rather surprising.

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Building an iPhone 13 Pro with AliExpress parts

Nowadays, the iPhone fleet is one of the most robust set of products on the market, with intricate design and sturdy materials.

But there are ways of duplicating the Apple smartphone.

Taking to YouTube, Phone Repair Guru set out to recreate an iPhone 13 Pro with parts sourced from Chinese site AliExpress.

Having shipped ‘every part’ that they needed, the host had a medley of different components to piece together, in the hope that he could save a few hundred bucks.

The AliExpress order included the iPhone shell, including the charging port, antennas, and engine (presumed to be refurbished from Apple), the rear camera module, an OLED display screen, a battery, internal hubs like the SIM card holder, and teeny-tiny screws.

With all this at his disposal, the host went to town weaving the parts together.

The OLED screen proved to be a bit of a stumbling block, being thicker than your typical iPhone display.

But for the most part, despite its fiddly nature, the phone easily connected together, and he ended with an iPhone 13 Pro build that was almost unrecognizable from the real product.

It was also fully functioning. The cameras, Face-ID, and iOS software all worked, despite being from different sources.

All in all, the AliExpress phone was a success.

But was it worth it?

Is it cheaper than going to Apple?

Sourcing every individual part for a new iPhone 17 Pro and putting it together yourself would leave you well in the green, at the cost of not being supported by future updates.

As for this AliExpress iPhone 13 Pro, the YouTuber also managed to make a considerable saving, although it was at the expense of some of his sanity.

“Although doing this is incredibly risky, and I can’t say I recommend it,” he said,

“But this AliExpress phone that I built from scratch cost me $360. That’s absolutely insane, considering the average refurbished iPhone 13 Pro costs around $500 Canadian

Typically, these knock-off parts don’t end well for your phone. But in this case, it was a job well done and for a decent saving.

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