Just building a smartphone from scratch would be a huge task, even if there are plenty of smartphones in the world. Now imagine trying to build a smartphone that is 100 times larger than its normal size and has almost all of the same look and function. That’s exactly what YouTubers Matthew Perkins (DIY Perks) and Arun Maini (MrWhoseTheBoss) did, creating a working replica of the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The completed project was 6.74 feet long and 440 pounds, earning the pair an official Guinness World Record.
Perkins started his build with the screen, a huge job that required turning an LG Signature 88-inch OLED TV into a responsive touchscreen. He commissioned a manufacturer to create a screen-shaped touch foil, which he cured with optically clear glue UV epoxy.
The next challenge was to find a way to fit oversized versions of the phone’s components into a frame: the speaker, three-lens camera array, volume and power buttons, and special function buttons. They built a frame out of aluminum with a cross-shaped support in the middle.
The cameras weren’t particularly cheap, as Perkins opted to use a Canon EOS R5 as well as a Sony RX10 Mark 4 to mimic the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s telephoto lens. The frame was also designed to be permanently mounted on a similarly shaped phone stand so it could be rotated without giving the user a massive hernia.
The only major component they couldn’t recreate was the operating system, as Apple’s iOS is closed-source. But there were two major benefits to using Android: Bliss OS recreated the iPhone home screen experience using themed skins, and they could install Flappy Bird — something real iPhone owners haven’t been able to do in nearly a decade.
The phone may be big, but it appears to be just as functional as a handheld iPhone. Manny and a group of his friends took this phone out into the real world for testing, and apparently it can make tap-to-pay purchases, send emails, and make video calls. Functional or not, it’s a bold move to bring a $70,000 phone out into the streets of London without a case.