Brother Chong will teach you how to expand the capacity of the iPhone 15 Pro to 1TB, don't use the disassembled hard drive!
Have you ever wondered how many ** and apps you can save if your iPhone 15 Pro is capable of having 1TB of storage? Have you ever wondered how much you can save if you can change the hard drive of your iPhone 15 Pro yourself? Have you ever thought about how much you would adore Brother Chong's craftsmanship if you could see it with your own eyes?
If you have these ideas, then you must read this article to the end, because today, I am going to help a fan expand the size of his iPhone 15 Pro 128G to 1TB, and do it myself, so that you can see every detail of the process, and there are some secrets that you may not know.
First of all, let me introduce this lucky fan, he is an author of China's Big Fish, he sent me an email, saying that he is my loyal fan, I don't miss every issue, I admire my skills and character very much, and praise me for being a particularly friendly big boy. He said that he also likes to tinker with electronic products, but he doesn't have the courage to change the hard drive of his iPhone 15 Pro, so he hopes that I can help him realize this wish, expand the size of his phone to 1TB, and let me be the hero of his article.
When I saw this email, I felt a warm current in my heart, I felt that this is a real fan, not only concerned about my technology, but also about my personality, and also provided me with a good creative material, how can I refuse? So, I agreed to his request and asked him to send me the phone, and I will make an exclusive ** for him, showing him and all the viewers, how to expand the size of the iPhone 15 Pro to 1TB, and some secrets that you may not know.
After I received his mobile phone, I immediately took a ** and sent it to him to ask him to confirm if it was his mobile phone. He replied that yes, it was his phone, a gray iPhone 15 Pro, not long after the purchase, and within seven days, Apple Care service plan coverage could be added. He said he was looking forward to my ** and hoped I could surprise him.
I told him, don't worry, I'll surprise him, let him be patient. Then, I started my expansion journey.
First of all, I want to introduce you to some of the features of the iPhone 15 Pro, this is a new model just released this year, its middle frame is made of titanium alloy, which is very strong, but it also has a fatal weakness, that is, it is particularly easy to leave fingerprints, you see, I hold the phone in my hand, and if I rub it slightly, there will be a lot of fingerprints on the frame, but this problem is not big, as long as you wipe it with a cloth, you can wipe it off.
Another feature of the iPhone 15 Pro is that its interfaces have all been replaced with Type-C interfaces, which is a big step forward for Apple, allowing iPhones and MacBooks and other Type-C devices to have a common data cable, which is very convenient. I'll tear off this protective film, and then turn it on and look at the basic information of this phone.
After turning it on, I came to Settings - General - About This Unit, and saw that this phone shows that it is a 128G National Bank iPhone 15 Pro, and the system version is iOS 160.1, The serial number is fq9xh9z6nht8, and the information is all real and has not been modified. You can also add Apple Care's service plan coverage, which means that the phone has not been activated for seven days and is a brand new device.
So, will you choose to expand the capacity of this new machine from 128G to 1TB? If you feel that 128G is too small and not enough, then you can choose to expand the capacity, but you should note that the expansion process is risky, you may damage your phone, or cause your phone to lose its warranty, so you have to think carefully about whether you want to expand the capacity, and whether you want to expand the capacity yourself.
If you want to expand the capacity by yourself, then you must have some necessary tools and materials, such as disassembly tools, heating tables, fixed fixtures, fluxes, casting and welding machines, vinyl, waterproof glue, etc., and most importantly, a new 1TB hard disk chip, do not use the disassembled hard disk, why? I'll explain it to you later.
Okay, now that you're ready to scale, let's get started. First of all, we have to disassemble the screen, which is a difficult step, because the screen glue of the iPhone 15 Pro is very difficult to disassemble, and it needs to be heated for a while to separate the screen from the case. I put the phone on the heating table, heated it to about 80 degrees, and then used the screen splitter to lift a small gap in the screen, and then used a plastic disassembly piece to cut the screen around, and the screen can be turned on.
After turning on the screen, we can see that the internal structure of the iPhone 15 Pro is very different from that of the iPhone 14 Pro, first of all, we can see that there is no A17 logo on the shield, which is very strange, because the iPhone 14 Pro will have an A16 logo on the shield, indicating its CPU model, while the CPU model of the iPhone 15 Pro is A17 Pro, according to Apple's style, it will definitely be marked A17 here pro logo, but why not? This is a mystery, you can guess why this logo is not played, and there is no A17 Pro logo on the CPU.
Let's ignore this problem for now, let's continue to disassemble the machine, we have to knock down all the screws of this iron sheet, remove this iron sheet, and then look at the back, there is still a lot of foam on the back, which plays a cushioning role. There are signs of positive and negative poles next to the battery interface, we will first turn off the power, and then disconnect the display touch cable and the induction cable, and then we can remove the screen.
Here I want to correct one thing, the screen of the iPhone 15 Pro, this white glue around it, is actually a new filling process for the screen, we have to remove the motherboard, this is a key step in expansion, because we want to replace the hard disk chip on the motherboard, which is this silver-white small square, its capacity is 128g, and we want to replace it with 1TB. But before removing the motherboard, we have to pay attention to some details, such as the iPhone 15 Pro's motherboard fixing screws will be one more than the iPhone 14 Pro, and there is a cable under the motherboard, this cable is the wireless charging cable, we have to carefully disconnect it before we can remove the motherboard.
We first remove the external card slot, then lay the screws that hold the motherboard in place, and then carefully turn the motherboard over, and see that there is a cable here, we use tweezers to disconnect it, and we can remove the motherboard. Let's take a look at the back of the motherboard, there is a big change here, that is, there is no cooling sticker on the back of the motherboard, why is this? Is it because the heat dissipation effect of the iPhone 15 Pro is better than that of the iPhone 14 Pro, and there is no need for a heat dissipation sticker? If you are a user of the iPhone 15 Pro, you can tell me in the comment area, how is the heat dissipation of your phone, is it better than the iPhone 14 Pro?
Let's ignore this problem for a while, let's continue to look at the motherboard, we can see that there are a lot of chips on the motherboard, including CPU, GPU, memory, baseband, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc., these chips are very important, they determine the performance and function of the mobile phone, we can't disassemble or replace them at will, otherwise it will cause the mobile phone to not work properly, or even brick. What we want to replace, it's just this hard disk chip, its location is here, its model is ETB, its capacity is 128G, we want to replace it with 1TB, so that we can greatly increase the storage space of our mobile phone.
However, before replacing the hard disk chip, we have to pay attention to one thing, that is, we can't use the disassembled hard disk, why? Because although the hard disk chip of iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro is universal, their data bottom layer is not universal, if we use the hard disk chip of the disassembled iPhone 14 Pro to install it on the iPhone 15 Pro, there will be a flashing error, and it cannot be successfully flashed into the system, which is what we have tested, only the hard disk chip of ETB will have this situation, and the hard disk chip of 512G and 256G will not have this situationThis may be a measure for Apple to prevent expansion, so we must use a new hard drive chip to successfully expand the capacity.
So, how do we replace the hard drive chip? We need to use some professional tools and skills, such as heating table, flux, casting and welding machine, vinyl, etc., these tools and materials are essential, if you don't have these tools and materials, or you won't use them, then you'd better not do it yourself, otherwise you may damage your phone, or cause your phone to lose its warranty, so you have to think carefully, whether you want to expand, and whether you want to do it yourself.
If you want to scale yourself, then you can follow me step by step, and I will explain each step to you in detail, so that you can see every detail of the process, and there are some secrets that you may not know. So, let's get started. First of all, we want to put the motherboard in a fixed fixture, fix it, and then come to the drawings of the iPhone 15 Pro, let's take a look at the periphery of the hard disk chip, we can see that the integration of the hard disk chip is very high, the useful points are yellow dots, and the rest of the black dots are grounded, including the resistance under the hard disk chip is all black, which is useless. It is said that these two rows of resistors are designed for the glue to not fall off easily, we don't need to care about them, we only need to pay attention to the pads around the hard disk chip, these pads are connected to the hard disk chip and the motherboard, we have to take them apart to remove the hard disk chip.
We preheat the hard disk chip around, and then use flux to drive a small amount of flux around the hard disk chip, which can make the pad easier to melt, and then use a welding machine to heat and remove the 128g hard disk chip of the original machine. Here I want to say, this is about to be 2024, iPhone 15 Pro is still starting at 128G, this is really too stingy, no matter how much it should start at 256G, how many people are enough for 128G now? If you think 128G is enough, you can tell me in the comment section how you manage your phone's storage space.
After removing the 128G hard disk chip, let's take a look at the pads, each pad is flat, without any warping or breakage, which shows that our disassembly is very perfect and safe, without damaging any components. We put a layer of casting flux on top of the pads and dragged each pad through the tin again, which made the pads flatter and easier to install the new hard drive chips. Then, we use an air cushion to smooth the pad, and you will find that the lower points of this kind of hard disk chip are not glued, only there is glue around it, which can make it easier to remove and install the hard disk chip.
We clean up the pads, pay attention to this row of resistors and this row of resistors, they are useless, in order to install the 1TB hard disk chip, we need to remove all these two rows of resistors, because the motherboard of the 1TB hard disk chip also does not have these two rows of resistors, this may be a measure for Apple to prevent expansion, we have to bypass it, in order to successfully expand the capacity.
After the processing is completed, let's take out the 1TB hard disk chip, this is a brand new hard disk chip, not disassembled, its model is also ETB, its capacity is 1TB, equivalent to 1024GB, we have to install it on the motherboard, so that we can greatly increase the storage space of our mobile phone.
We preheat the pads, then put a small amount of flux into the pads, which will make the pads easier to bond, and next, we need to install the 1TB hard drive chip to the motherboard, which is a relatively simple step, just align the pads, heat it up, and it's done. However, we need to pay attention to some details, such as the direction of the hard disk chip, it has a corner bit, and it cannot be installed backwards, otherwise it will cause the phone to not recognize the hard disk, or other problems. We need to mark the direction of the chip according to a point on the hard disk chip, and then put it on the pad, align the position, and then use a casting and welding machine to heat it up, and the hard disk chip can be fixed on the motherboard. We can see that the 1TB HDD chip is a bit larger than the 128G HDD chip and takes up more space, but this does not affect our installation as there is enough space on the motherboard to accommodate it.
After installing the ** disk chip, we need to clean up the motherboard, wipe off the excess flux and vinyl around the hard disk chip, and then seal the hard disk chip around the black glue, which can make the hard disk chip more stable, and can also prevent dust and moisture from entering, causing damage to the hard disk chip. We want to use vinyl instead of white glue, because it is more resistant to high temperatures, less likely to fall off, and more beautiful. We need to use an appropriate amount of vinyl, not too much, not too little, too much, it will affect the heat dissipation of the hard disk chip, too little, it will affect the sealing of the hard disk chip. We need to use professional tools to evenly coat the vinyl around the hard disk chip, and then use a UV lamp to cure the vinyl, and finally clean it again and paste it back with a new foam. In this way, we have completed the replacement of the hard disk chip, and let's take a look, it is very perfect, without any flaws.
We take the motherboard off the clamp, tear off the surrounding protective stickers, then put the motherboard back on the mobile phone, buckle the wireless charging cable, hit the screws that fix the motherboard, then put the screen back, buckle the display touch cable and induction cable, and then put on the iron sheet and screws to fix the screen, and then do another ash cleaning treatment, then tear off the protective sticker of the waterproof glue, tear off the protective sticker on the screen, close the screen, and then put the phone in the tray, and put the mobile phone and the tray together in the pressure holding tool for pressure holding, This allows the screen to fit more tightly to the case, preventing water ingress and loosening. After the pressure is successfully maintained, we take out the mobile phone and put on the two screws at the tail, in this way, we have completed the assembly of the mobile phone, let's take a look, the appearance of the mobile phone has not changed without any changes, it is still a gray iPhone 15 Pro, there is no trace, there is no damage, but its storage space has become larger, from 128g to 1TB, this is a huge change, so that our mobile phone can store more content, do not have to worry about the lack of space.
However, we haven't completed the last step of the expansion, which is to flash the phone, because we have replaced the hard disk chip, and we need to connect the computer to flash the latest system to the phone, so that the phone can recognize the new hard disk chip and make the phone work normally. If we don't flash the phone, the phone won't turn on, or there will be other problems, so flashing is essential.
We use a Type-C cable, connect the phone to the computer, and then use iTunes to flash the phone into the latest system, this is a relatively simple step, just follow the prompts of iTunes, you can complete it. However, we have to pay attention to one thing, that is, we can't use the disassembled hard disk chip, why? Because if we use the disassembled iPhone 14 Pro hard disk chip to install it on the iPhone 15 Pro, there will be a flashing error, unable to successfully flash into the system, this is what we have tested, only ETB's hard disk chip will have this situation, and 512G and 256G hard disk chips will not appear in this situation, this may be a measure for Apple to prevent expansion, so we must use a new hard disk chip, in order to successfully expand the capacity.
After the flashing is successful, the phone restarts, and it will come to the activation interface, we can use the one-click activation of the AISI assistant, or manual activation, you can activate the phone, as long as you enter the correct Apple ID and password, you can activate the phone, and then set up the phone step by step, you will come to the desktop, and then we come to the settings-generic-about this machine, take a look, we have successfully expanded an iPhone 15 Pro 128G to 1TB, and the ETB is equivalent to 1024GB, so here it shows 102TB, which is equivalent to two 512G, or four 256G in size, is a very staggering number that allows our phones to store more content without worrying about running out of space.
We also need to test all the other functions of the mobile phone, such as taking pictures, video, playing **, surfing the Internet, playing games, etc., to see if the performance and function of the mobile phone are normal, whether there are any abnormalities, we have tested, and found that everything is normal on the mobile phone, there are no problems, the speed and fluency of the mobile phone have not been affected, the battery life and heat dissipation of the mobile phone have not been affected, the signal and call quality of the mobile phone have not been affected, and the photo and video effects of the mobile phone have not been affected, All the functions of the phone are the same as before, except that its storage space has become larger, from 128G to 1TB, which is a huge change, allowing our phone to store more content without worrying about running out of space.
In this way, we have completed the process of expanding the capacity of the iPhone 15 Pro to 1TB, which is a very interesting and meaningful process, allowing us to see the internal structure and some secrets of the iPhone 15 Pro, and also allowing us to learn some professional techniques and skills, and also let us realize an impossible dream, turning our phone into a super large capacity phone, so that our phone can store more content without worrying about running out of space.