A really dead iPhone 3GS featuring a ballooning battery!

[MagicWok]

Hey guys

So a bit of a fun thread to round out the week. We were clearing out storage, and in one of our iPhone 3GS original boxes I saw the top lifted off. I opened the box to find the display clear off the phone and a smell of battery acid in the bigger storage container, which itself has been away from light and in a cool dry environment.

So I decided to take it apart, document it, and share it mostly for a little bit of fun.

TL;DR the phone is very dead.

Enjoy!
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Here's the offending phone.
Note that the screen is almost off by the depth of the iPhone 3GS itself




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Time for some iFixit action!



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Uh-oh...
Ok so the battery pushed everything so much that the screen has all separated. The adhesive age combined with slowly being stretched and exposed to air means the whole display unit is broken (though maybe still functional?)



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You can see the flex of the logic board.
Each time I took a screw out I heard a loud 'pop' and the battery expand further by pushing out more as the pressure from being held back lessens.



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The culprit. Wow it's about to pop...
I'm a little scared it might break as I removed it, but it stayed together. A couple glamour shots for you all to admire!







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Here's the bend of the logic board:



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Naked iPhone 3GS:

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[Starfyre]

Reminds me of the alien movie, where the alien inside the woman's belly expands more and more until it bursts out. The battery is not an alien octopus, but the battery expanding inside the iPhone's 'belly' reminded me of it

 

[redheeler]

This battery was pulled from my 2007 MacBook Pro. Had been sitting outside of the Mac for a few months when I found it like this:

 

[Rayban]

RIP 3GS

 

[willmtaylor]

This battery was pulled from my 2007 MacBook Pro. Had been sitting outside of the Mac for a few months when I found it like this:
View attachment 722131

We had 2 that did that! The original, and the OEM replacement from Apple. We haven't bothered getting any more but still use the laptop plugged in when in a pinch.

 

[sdwaltz]

Ha! Interesting post. RIP old 3GS *pours one out*

This inspired me to dig out my oldest phones and see if this had happened - somehow both my 10-year old 2G and 8 year old 3GS still have normal sized batteries.

I do have an super old MacBook Pro 1,1 (Core Duo, not even Core 2 Duo) that I retired awhile back but kept, and its battery swelled up badly maybe a year ago though.

Any science people on here care to chime in as to why this sometimes happens?

 

[puma1552]

god-damn the 3G/3GS was ugly (I had a 3G myself in white).

 

[sdwaltz]

god-damn the 3G/3GS was ugly (I had a 3G myself in white).

Man, I didn't think so! Frankly if they blew that design up to current-gen sized phones with the specs to match I'd think about picking one up.

To each their own though, I know the iPhone 4 is the most universally lauded design on this board and the 3g/3gs is the most universally hated design on this board, and I feel the exact opposite. Lol.

 

[BeefSupreme]

I really want to stick a pin in that battery pack. Just cuz.

 

[Nozuka]

damn, i'm scared even just looking at the pictures of that battery!

still have a 2G somewhere.. maybe i should check it out

 

[blairian89]

I'm not doctor, but I have seen an episode of Grey's Anatomy against my will.

That battery is dead...and probably the phone too. R.I.P., you reliable stallion you.

In other news, I'm surprised that the battery just nuked itself...guess it happens. I had one of the old 3GS's in white and it was a great phone at the time - but then the 4 came out and quite frankly, the 2G, 3G, and 3GS all became kind of ugly.

 

[MagicWok]

@BeefSupreme Haha yeah, that did cross my mind a couple times...

 

[Technarchy]

I really want to stick a pin in that battery pack. Just cuz.

Right!!?!? I so want to poke it with something sharp.