The first ever iPhone to get the (PRODUCT)RED treatment, the Apple (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus have just officially become available last Friday, but the community already can’t wait to put it under the knife to get what some want: a black front. Yes. The white front is not getting a lot of love cos’, apparently, most people are evil because they like it in black instead of the white the (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 7 (and 7 Plus) comes equipped with. Nah. Just kidding. Anyways, I am not going to lie. I am also leaning towards black cos’ I think it looks better with the crimson red of the (PRODUCT)RED iPhone. That said if you are so incline of having the (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 7 with black front, well, not all hopes are lost.
There are a few ways you can go about getting your dream (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 7. The simplest way is to get a full coverage colored glass screen protector. Get a black one and slap it on, and voila! A black front, albeit with a slight hint of white along the edge and also, white home button. Not ideal, but the most practical and quick solution that cost around 14 bucks. Or you could put it under the knife (like almost literally) like YouTuber Danny Widget did. Dan took apart the newly procured red iPhone 7 Plus and had the entire logic board and front plate replaced with parts cannibalized from a jet black iPhone 7 Plus.
As Dan explains, you can also choose to replace the display only, but that would mean sacrificing the home button’s functionality. The reason being, the home button is paired to the logic board for life and it won’t work when it is taken away from its original board. However, if you are ok with white button, then you can always swap the display only and retain the red iPhone 7’s white home button (totally weird, tbh). It is quite a bit of work in order to satisfy your desire for a black front on the red iPhone and that’s not to mention it is a fairly expensive endeavor since you will required to two working phones to achieve this. Also, you will inevitably voiding the warranty and ruining the waterproofing seal in the process of part swap.
Needless to say, this is a customization reserved for those who are dead serious about owning a black front red iPhone. Skip ahead to catch Danny’s video on how he did the deed.
Image: screengrab from YouTube video.
via MacRumors.