Published: 2:00pm, 3 Mar 2025Updated: 2:03pm, 3 Mar 2025
A secondary-school student in China has used a 3D printer and old smartphone components to make a vertical foldable mobile phone, winning massive admiration on social media, including the thumbs-up from a major phone maker.
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Lan Bowen, from Yiling High School in Yichang in central Hubei province, released a video clip showing the making of his smartphone on social media platform on February 16.
The footage, less than six minutes long, has been viewed 4.7 million times and has received 400,000 likes.
Lan said his idea of creating an vertical foldable smartphone came after he found various types of such horizontal models and the inward-folded vertical ones were available on the market, but no outside-folded vertical ones which leave the screens outside while bent.
“I call it a meal card machine because its length and width are similar to a canteen meal card after being folded, though it is much thicker,” said Lan, dressed in his school’s uniform, in the video.
His creation is 16mm thick folded in half.