On April 1 this year, Ken Pillonel announced the world’s first Android smartphone that is equipped with a Lightning connector. It turned out to be a modified Samsung Galaxy A51.
This was not a joke – a smartphone like this really exists. Recall that earlier, engineer Ken Pillonel modified the iPhone by equipping it with a USB-C connector, and then by popular demand he performed a similar operation to add a Lightning connector to the Android smartphone.
The author published a video describing the modification process. He also said that he did it for the sake of interest and to test his skills. The first difficulty was hacking the authentication system inside the Apple accessories. They won’t allow the Android phone to use the Lightning cable. If the chip inside the cable doesn’t get the correct information, it will refuse to transmit power and data.
This problem can be solved, but as shown in the video, it’s not that easy. Miniaturization has also become a challenge – today’s smartphones are so densely packed that there is almost no room inside for new hardware.