iPhone Air Dissection Total, Made Transparent and Equipped with a Physical SIM

JAKARTA - The iPhone Air, known for its ultra-thin design, now comes in a version that Apple never even imagined. A modder turned the device into a transparent one and added back the physical SIM slot - a feature that Apple deliberately removed for a full eSIM-based design.

This project was documented by the Linzin Tech YouTube channel in a 22-minute video. There it is shown the process of dismantling the iPhone Air, removing the back paint layer, to modifying the frame to embed the nano-SIM tray.

The first step is to remove the opaque layer on the back glass panel. With precision laser techniques, the paint layer is removed without damaging the important components underneath, especially the MagSafe coil that is right behind the glass.

The end result is a transparent back body that shows the battery, logic board layout, component shield, to internal connectors. The Apple logo is still there, but now it "floats" above the clearly visible components.

The biggest modification came when the team tried to add a physical SIM slot to a device that was entirely designed for eSIM. To make room, the bottom of the frame had to be cut using a milling process. As a consequence, the built-in Taptic Engine - Apple's large and precise haptic motor - had to be removed because there was not enough internal space to accommodate it along with the SIM tray.

As a substitute, a smaller third-party vibration motor was installed. The SIM reader module was then connected through a circuit board-level microsoldering process. In the video, the modified phone is claimed to have successfully connected to the cellular network using a physical SIM card.

But this radical change has an impact. The removal of the thermal pad during the laser process is said to affect the heat dissipation system, so that the device throttles faster when used in heavy loads. In addition, structural modifications eliminate IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. The warranty is automatically void since the frame is cut.

Technically, this is a major surgical operation on a device designed with very tight space tolerances. Ultra-thin smartphones like the iPhone Air are assembled with millimeter efficiency, so adding a new component means sacrificing another element.

For most users, the compromise may not be worth the results. But for the hardware enthusiast community, this experiment shows that even a closed design can still be "opened" with a combination of courage, precision tools, and technical expertise.

In an era of increasingly sealed devices and dwindling modularity, mods like this serve as a reminder that full control over a device is still possible - even if it must be paid for with risk, excess heat, and a little bit of recklessness.