When Apple's iPhone 7 was debuted, many people noticed the very glaring lack of a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. Sure, official adaptors that allow you to plug your regular headphones into the Lightning charging port came soon after, but that created another issue - you couldn't charge your phone and listen to your music or podcast of choice at the same time.
Enter Scotty Allen, a former software engineer living in Shenzhen, China. He, too, felt our pain, and craved a functioning headphone jack that didn't require an adaptor to use. So he bought an iPhone 7 and modified it. And when I say modified, I mean really modified. The entire process took four months, three completely disassembled iPhones, a whole arsenal of new and expensive tools and seven custom circuit board designs. (Also presumably blood, sweat and tears.)
After he finally emerged victorious, he posted the entire process to the Strange Parts YouTube channel. The result is a 33-minute ode to near-inhuman patience and dedication that stressed me out just to watch. However, the payoff is huge. The look on Allen's face as he triumphantly holds up the fully functional modded iPhone with headphones plugged into the hand-drilled jack is one of pure joy. And boy, he deserves it.
Because the mod is so extensive, it's unlikely any of us regular folk will attempt it any time soon. However, you can experience the months-long emotional rollercoaster secondhand here:
Thoughts? Questions?
How far would you go to add a working headphone jack to your iPhone 7? Let us know in the comments, or tweet at us on Twitter!
