Screengrab: YouTube
You might remember Scotty Allen, the man behind the YouTube channel Strange Parts, from the 2017 viral video of him building an iPhone entirely from individual components sourced from the famed electronics markets of Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen. For his latest cyberpunk magic trick, he took apart an old broken iPhone and turned it into a flash drive.It all started, Allen explained in a YouTube video documenting the process, when he found a USB flash drive circuit board with iPhone flash storage pins on it while sourcing parts for a different video. Intrigued, he purchased it, along with two broken iPhone 6s from a Huaqiangbei pawn shop. A whole lot of unscrewing, soldering, and troubleshooting ensues.It’s a fun watch because it shows how iPhone hardware can be repurposed and upcycled. To boot, we get a look at some of the crazy and fun stuff you can find in Shenzhen’s electronics markets.If you want to turn your old iPhone into a flash drive too, there’s a link to buy a similar flash drive circuit board in the video description from AliBaba. If you’re just looking for a cheap flash drive though, the shipping cost for the circuit board might tempt you to go down to your local supermarket instead.Want to find out more about getting inside your iPhone? Check out our deep dive on iFixit, the patron saints of the iPhone teardown.