Building the World’s Largest Functioning iPhone Was an Insane Challenge

The tech industry has long prioritized miniaturization, which is why we can now all carry powerful computers in our pockets. That is an incredibly impressive feat that has required applied science and engineering that is beyond the comprehension of most of us. But what if we went in the opposite direction and prioritized maximization instead of miniaturization? Matthew Perks found that is also an insane challenge when he built the world’s largest functioning iPhone.

Perks, host of the popular DIY Perks YouTube channel, constructed this gargantuan iPhone at the request of fellow YouTuber Arun, AKA “Mrwhosetheboss.” Arun reviews tech products, with a particular focus on Android smartphones. For a while now, he’s had a goal to gain more YouTube subscribers than the official Apple channel and he’s very close to reaching that milestone. For the final push, Arun commissioned this leviathan of an iPhone.

The goal was to make a device that looks like a real iPhone and functions like a real iPhone as much as possible, just at a much larger scale. That started with the display, which is an 88” OLED TV. But, of course, it wasn’t a touchscreen. So, Perks had to go through the painstaking process of laminating a touchscreen digitizer (plus a spacer and cover) on top of the screen. That was so difficult that the first attempt failed (at great cost) when glue got inside the TV. Fortunately for the project’s budget, the second attempt was successful.

But that was still just the screen and Perks had to construct everything else. That screen goes on a huge aluminum frame, with a CNC-milled aluminum façade to mimic the design of an iPhone. That frame contains all of the components required for the rest of the functionality. That includes a full-fledged gaming PC, a high-fidelity speaker system with amplifier, and even a pair of professional cameras — one for the standard camera and one for zoom shots. The latter has a massive lens, so Perks mounted it sideways and used a mirror to reflect light at a 90-degree angle.

This project was full of big challenges and interesting solutions that we don’t have room to cover here. For example, it isn’t possible to run iOS on anything but an iPhone or iPad. So, this oversized iPhone actually runs Android with customizations to make it look like iOS. Another example is the button design, which includes air piston dampening to add a feeling of weight. Perks even created a charging cable to match the scale of the rest of the phone.

The Mrwhosetheboss YouTube channel should soon have more subscribers than the Apple channel and now Arun has the perfect device to rub the victory in their faces.