Following a trend of enthusiasts successfully switching the iPhone’s Lightning port for a USB-C port, engineer Ken Pillonel has added a functional Lightning port to a Samsung Galaxy A51.
Pillonel was the first to gain notoriety for modifying an iPhone X to add a functional USB-C port, which went on to sell for over $86,000 at auction. His latest project sought to achieve the inverse and add a Lightning port to a Galaxy A51, including charging and data transfer functionality.
Pillonel told Engadget that the project was “a complex modification that required some out-of-the-box thinking.”
The Lightning cables sold by Apple are not “dumb.” They will only charge Apple devices. So I had to find a way to trick the cable into thinking it was plugged into an Apple device. And the whole thing needs to fit inside the phone, which is another challenge in itself.
Pillonel admitted that “the quality of the finished product is nowhere near what it was for the iPhone,” but he doesn’t expect “anyone in their right mind” to want to do this to their device. “It was for fun, I just wanted to see if I could do it,” he explained, adding that such projects serve as a great example of what can be achieved with devices, even without the help of the companies that originally made them.
Pillonel plans to release a full-length explanation video about the Galaxy A51’s conversion from USB-C to Lightning on his YouTube channel soon.