Apple

Apple tries, fails to repair iPhone of teen lost at sea

posted by Daniel P. / May 12, 2016, 3:32 AM

Apple tries, fails to repair iPhone of teen lost at sea

Despite their best efforts, a team of Apple engineers hasn't been able to resuscitate an iPhone belonging to a teen who had been lost at sea for a while. It's a little wonder, since the handset has been lying in seawater for eight months already, as it belonged to Austin Stephanos - a 14-year old who suddenly disappeared off the Florida coast last July during a fishing trip with his buddy Peter Cohen, of the same age.

Apple's forensics team was sent the phone in April, when a Norwegian ship rediscovered the boys' boat in Bermuda, and found the handset in the stowage. They took the iPhone 6 apart, cleaned up the components, and did a chemical report, trying to power it up to no avail. The parents of the missing kids thanked Apple for the effort profusely, though:

"We learned yesterday that Apple went as far as they could to try to get Austin's iPhone working, which, as Apple advised, was the first step in the process of retrieving information that might help us understand what happened to the boys. Apple also made it clear that getting the iPhone to power up was its only commitment to Blu Stephanos, which differs from what we heard from his attorney in court. For the generous efforts by Apple's engineers, who we understand worked tirelessly to try to help us, we are so very grateful."

source: ABC

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19 Comments

1. drunkenjay

Posts: 1700; Member since: Feb 11, 2013

they should give it to the fbi, they will give you information the following week.

posted on May 12, 2016, 3:36 AM 12

3. Sidewinder

Posts: 515; Member since: Jan 15, 2015

And apple engineers will be scratching their heads wondering how they managed to do that while they themselves couldn't.

posted on May 12, 2016, 4:09 AM 4

4. siddharthayadav202

Posts: 286; Member since: Apr 23, 2016

or send it to India.. Indian goverent will most likely not say no..

posted on May 12, 2016, 4:10 AM 3

7. Sidewinder

There are whizheads running small mobile repair shops in India who can unlock any phone even iphones. They even do chip level repairs. And it costs next to nothing to get it done from one of these shops.

posted on May 12, 2016, 4:24 AM 2

9. Arch_Fiend

Posts: 3951; Member since: Oct 03, 2015

There are people in every country like that just saying, I'm pretty sure the guy that ownes computer central 3 blocks from where I live can hack into just about any mobile phone. Hell i'm not a bad hacker myself I might be able to hack an iPhone. I have an iPhone 6th gen that's password locked I might give it ago lol.

posted on May 12, 2016, 5:42 AM 0

5. siddharthayadav202

or send it to India.. Indian government will most likely not say no..

posted on May 12, 2016, 4:11 AM 0

2. submar

Posts: 713; Member since: Sep 19, 2014

The omnipotent fails. /s

posted on May 12, 2016, 3:42 AM 0

8. phonehome

Posts: 812; Member since: Dec 19, 2014

"They took the iPhone 6 apart, cleaned up the components, and did a chemical report, trying to power it up to no avail" Did they try a new, never-been-wet battery??

posted on May 12, 2016, 5:33 AM 0

10. Arch_Fiend

Probalay lol, I would hope that Apple's engineers were at least that competent.

posted on May 12, 2016, 5:43 AM 0

11. tedkord

Posts: 17463; Member since: Jun 17, 2009

That's a shame. Might have brought some closure to the families.

posted on May 12, 2016, 6:47 AM 2

12. janis

Posts: 397; Member since: Mar 10, 2014

they will use this phone body for next iphone 6 SE after 5 years i guess.

posted on May 12, 2016, 8:02 AM 0

13. insyt

Posts: 52; Member since: Sep 16, 2015

Er the Chinese make the iPhone, this they are most likely to have the know how and parts to retrieve info of it. The Soc and Memory need to be placed on a new circuit board.

posted on May 12, 2016, 8:09 AM 0

14. TechieXP1969

Posts: 14967; Member since: Sep 25, 2013

You expect a phone that been in water for over a year, salt-water at that, and that much damage and you thought someone how it would work? LOL

posted on May 12, 2016, 8:33 AM 4

15. kiko007

Posts: 7520; Member since: Feb 17, 2016

Agreed. People seem to think tech companies can make magic happen. Sadly, that isn't the case. I feel sorry for the family however, they may never get the closure they seek. So unfortunate.

posted on May 12, 2016, 9:36 AM 2

17. Sidewinder

Wouldn't the storage chip atleast survive the elements?

posted on May 12, 2016, 11:22 AM 0

20. roscuthiii

Posts: 2383; Member since: Jul 18, 2010

Probably not. Salt water and sea-air are not very friendly to gadgets and electronics in general. The inside of that iPhone probably looks worse than the outside. Apple and the engineers would have known it was a lost cause, but at least they tried.