When the iPhone SE was still naught but a rumour, opinions were divided on the phone’s design. Would it look like the boxy iPhone 5, Apple’s previous four inch phone, or would it be a pint-sized version of the curvier iPhone 6? Ultimately, we ended up with the former, a straight-edged iPhone with only a few small tweaks inspired by the iPhone 6. Not everyone was happy with that answer though, and this week ComputerBild unveiled an alternative, a custom-built iPhone they’re calling the iPhone 6 SE.
As the name suggests, the iPhone 6 SE is a replacement shell for the iPhone SE that brings the design elements of the iPhone 6 to the four-inch form factor. That includes curved sides and white antenna lines at the top and bottom, making for a quite convincing overall look. The Chinese makers of the shell have even included the Apple logo and an iPhone 6 model number.
There are some issues, however. The backplate isn’t as well manufactured as the real deal, with stickers used for the logos, deeply inset connectors and the camera cutout intersecting the antenna lines. The buttons are also reportedly hard to press, although nothing is an out-and-out dealbreaker.
If you’d like to achieve a similar look for your iPhone SE, you can order the iPhone 6 SE body online via Taobao. Installing it is a challenging task though, taking even an expert engineer two full hours of careful labour. Of course, even opening up your SE will void the warranty, so you’ll have no recourse if you do something wrong and break a vital connection in the phone.
What do you think of the iPhone 6 SE conversion? Let us know in the comments below, or write to us on Twitter @mobilefun or on Facebook.com/MobileFun. Thanks for checking out the article, and have a great weekend!