Redditor builds iPhone 13 from AliExpress parts
A Redditor has successfully built a working iPhone 13 using only parts sourced from AliExpress, though the project came with significant hurdles and trade-offs. The user, Legal_Newspaper_5710, spent about 460 New Zealand dollars (roughly 260 US dollars) on components, including the A15 Bionic logic board, display, battery, Face ID module, and housing. The build took four hours and relied on repair tutorials from the YouTube channel Phone Repair Guru.
Since the parts were not genuine Apple components, the phone lacks True Tone display calibration and battery health monitoring features. More critically, the logic board had to be free of an iCloud lock—a rare find on third-party marketplaces. The Redditor noted that success required considerable luck, as many used logic boards are still tied to previous owners’ accounts. He also mentioned that the total cost could have been 100 NZD lower if he had opted for unpaired Face ID and logic board components, though iOS 18 now allows pairing of genuine parts.
The user speculated the parts may have come from a stolen device, but the original owner apparently wiped and removed the device from their account before it was disassembled—making reuse possible. While technically feasible, building an iPhone from scratch in this manner remains a risky, complex, and chance-dependent process.
