Everyone has an old iPhone sitting in a drawer somewhere. In October 2020 I found my very first one, an iPhone 3G, with a swollen battery. Instead of throwing it away, I turned it into a piece of art for my wall.
A swollen battery
I opened a drawer and found my old and first iPhone 3G, and noticed it was expanding. I had read that a swelling battery can damage the phone and can even be dangerous, so I decided to open it. Sure enough, the battery was swollen. I removed it straight away and disposed of it properly, the way it should be done.
That left me with an iPhone in pieces and no idea what to do with it. I didn't want to throw it away, because it was my first iPhone.
From drawer to wall
So I decided to turn it into an artwork, or at least that's what I like to call it. The idea was simple: display the phone's parts in a frame so I'll never forget it and it can hang on the wall. It was fast, cheap and easy, and the video shows the whole build.
The result doesn't look bad at all. I'm really happy with it, and it now hangs on the wall. If you have an old phone gathering dust, this is a fun way to give it a second life.