I’m an engineer, but I have very limited experience with electronics and board-level repair. I’m hoping to get some advice from people here who have much deeper experience with iPhone hardware, microsoldering and board repair.

I absolutely love the iPhone 13 mini form factor. Unfortunately, Apple no longer makes anything remotely comparable in size, and none of the current iPhones appeal to me because of their size.

So I started thinking about a rather crazy project:

Could we build a modern “iPhone 13 mini V2” by keeping the 13 mini's external dimensions and screen, while replacing as much of the internal electronics as realistically possible with components from a newer iPhone?

The target envelope would be approximately:

131.5 × 64.2 × 10 mm maximum

The original 13 mini is 7.65 mm thick, but I am willing to increase the thickness to around 10 mm if that gives us enough internal volume to make the project realistic and a completely flat back !

The important point is that I would like to keep:

• the 13 mini external dimensions and ergonomics;
• the 5.4" OLED display;
• the original front/TrueDepth assembly if possible;
• Face ID if possible;
• MagSafe;
• the general button and speaker arrangement.

I would like to modernize:

• SoC / processing platform;
• RAM and storage;
• modem / cellular connectivity, if feasible
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth;
• USB-C;
• battery;
• cameras, if feasible.

The extra thickness would allow the camera modules to be integrated into the body rather than using the large camera bump found on recent iPhones.

I initially considered several generations, but the iPhone 16e currently looks particularly interesting to me because of its modern architecture and A18/C1 platform.

However, I don't want to assume that the 16e is actually the best donor.

An iPhone 15, 16e, or another generation might be much more practical if its hardware is easier to integrate into the 13 mini.

If the objective is:

maximum performance and longevity within the physical volume of an iPhone 13 mini,

which generation would you investigate first?

iPhone 15? 16e? Another model?

And why?

Could the original 13 mini OLED and touchscreen potentially be driven by a newer logic board?

If not directly, is a custom interposer/flex PCB technically realistic?

Or is the display interface effectively a hard stop?

My preference would be to keep the original 13 mini TrueDepth module.

How tightly coupled is the TrueDepth assembly to the original logic board in practice?

Is there any realistic way to make a newer logic board work with the 13 mini TrueDepth system?

I am not proposing to immediately remove the A18 or other BGA components from the board.

My preferred approach would be to keep Apple's critical circuitry intact wherever possible and use custom flex/interposer boards and mechanical adaptations to rearrange the surrounding components.

The extra 2–2.5 mm of thickness would give us considerably more freedom.

Is this a reasonable approach, or am I fundamentally misunderstanding how these boards need to be laid out?

I want to be very transparent about this:

I am a micro mechanical engineer and I am comfortable with mechanical design, measurements, CAD, prototyping and experimental work.

However, I am not an electronics/RF engineer and I have very limited experience with iPhone logic-board repair or microsoldering.

So I am not looking for someone to simply tell me “this is impossible”.

I would really appreciate someone experienced telling me:

“This part is impossible, this part is difficult but achievable, and this is the architecture I would try first.”

I am perfectly happy to start with a sacrificial 13 mini and a damaged donor phone and work progressively from a proof of concept.

Any advice from experienced Apple board-repair technicians, microsoldering specialists or electronics engineers would be extremely valuable.

Thanks!

⟐ Commented August 13, 2026 at 14:21 MST

⟐ Edited August 12, 2026 at 12:43 MST

my co-worker checked his phone yesterday morning when it was still plugged in, the phone was in recovery mode. When at work, he handed me the phone and i tried booting it, it began boot looping.

Did the standard force restart, it boot loops until it goes into recovery mode

I took it back home and attempted to update the iPhone to the latest iOS Version using my MacBook Air with no luck after several attempts with the error code 4013 showing up (I even updated the macOS Software to the latest version to see if that help out but same results).

I changed cables, did the same procedure again but on my Windows 11 PC using Apple Devices, still no change.

I used 3utools and checked the logs, i included the photo to show

I am starting to believe this is stemming from an hardware issue, the best thing would be opening up the phone and checking which component is causing this issue. Is my work accurate?

Hi techs and DIYers, I was trying to repair an iPhone 7 Plus that would not turn on. I replaced the battery and the device would turn on but it would not charge; when the phone was off and I connected it to the charger the phone would turn on but it would not receive a charge, so I tried cleaning the charging port and using a different charging cable and charging block to see if that would resolve the issue. The charging blocks and cables I have work on my other iPhone SE 2022 but not this iPhone 7 Plus, so I’m confident that the charging cables and blocks are not the issue. I ordered a replacement charging port on eBay; the listing is shown in the photos attached to this post. I wanted to test the charging port to make sure it works before removing the backing film covering the adhesive, so I put it into the phone with the adhesive covering film and connected it to the logic board and the touch screen. I did not reconnect the speaker and Taptic Engine. After that I plugged the charging cable into the phone and the battery logo appeared (keep in mind that the new battery had lost its power 3 days before I tested the charging port). Every couple of minutes I pressed the power button once and the battery logo appeared, so after a while I left the phone alone and waited for about 10-15 minutes. When I noticed that the phone had not turned on yet, I pressed the power button again and the battery logo did not appear. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting all the cables of the touchscreen and rear facing camera and logic board but it still would not charge. The film covering the adhesive of the charging port flex cable has not been removed yet. Does anyone know what the issue could be?

⟐ Edited by author August 08, 2026 at 18:38 MST

I recived this phone for parts from my brother since he drowned it and he just bought a new one. Still i started checking and replaced the screen with the battery and it runs, but there are some problems:

• The phone reboots after 2 /3 minutes and i know that it's just an easy check in the panic logs but i entered the password wrong a couple of times and now it's constantly stuck on 5 minute waiting;
• I charged up the battery to about 80% before pluging it in and it shows a constant 1%;
• When i tried connecting the charging port it started yelling about liquid, so i dried it and scrubbed with ipa, but still nothing, so i just replaced the charging port, but the only thing i get after connecting it to my pc or a charger are just some shakes from the taptic engine and that's it. It doesn't draw any current.

I tried checking for shorts on the mb, but i don't think i'm going the right way.

I would be really grateful for a few tips or if someone would point me in the right direction.

For the sake of learning to repair i'm willing to do board lever repais myself since this phone didn't cost me anything.

⟐ Edited by author August 04, 2026 at 22:58 MST

After my iPhone 16+ was dropped I now have no cellular connection or wifi anyone seen this before or have any ideas?

Thanks

Ollie

⟐ Commented July 29, 2026 at 17:15 MST

⟐ Commented July 28, 2026 at 18:50 MST

English: It doesn't connect to the operator

⟐ Edited July 25, 2026 at 16:21 MST

Standard AirDrop (selecting the person's name from the share sheet) works perfectly fine.

Steps I have already tried:

1. Verified "Bringing Devices Together" is toggled ON in Settings.

2. Verified both phones have a "My Card" set up with Contact Posters.

3. Tried with cases removed to rule out magnetic/physical interference.

4. Performed a Force Restart on both devices.

5. Performed a Reset Network Settings.

6. Toggled Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and AirDrop off and back on.

7. Verified Date & Time are set to "Automatic" on both devices.

8. Tested the NFC hardware using the Shortcuts app automation "Scan" feature, and it does detect tags/devices.

Since the animation triggers but the handshake fails, is this likely a hardware issue with the Ultra Wideband (U1) chip/antenna, or is there a specific iCloud/software cache I haven't cleared yet? The phone has not had any recent repairs.

⟐ Commented July 23, 2026 at 8:43 MST