The USB Killer iPhone Autopsy – From Destruction to Resurrection
If you have not heard of it before, the USB Killer 4 is one of the most dangerous little gadgets in tech. It looks like an ordinary USB stick, but instead of storing data, it builds up a massive charge of more than 215 volts and fires it straight back into the device.
In my previous video, I tested it out on different devices to see what it could really do. I lined up three victims for that test and the results were brutal.
| Device | Result |
|---|---|
| MacBook Pro | Fried instantly. Alive one second, completely gone the next. |
| Samsung S24 Ultra | Made some sounds but the screen died and the phone was totally bricked. |
| iPhone 15 Pro Max | Shockingly, it survived. Nothing happened and it kept charging. |
Since the S24 Ultra was too interesting to just toss aside, I sent it over to my friend, who is also a repair guru, to see if it could be brought back to life.
The Autopsy Begins
When he got the phone, the first thing he did was hook it up to a USB Digital Tester. The readings were flat, no sign of life at all. The S24 Ultra had taken the full 215 volt hit like a champ but it paid the ultimate price.
He removed the motherboard and started the autopsy. The first suspect was the power-management section near the charging port. That is the part of the board that handles incoming voltage, and it acts like the heart of the phone. If anything gets fried first, it is that chip.
Sure enough, testing the surrounding capacitors showed very low resistance to ground. Under a thermal camera, the chip heated up immediately. The short was confirmed.
Surgery on the S24 Ultra
There was no saving the damaged chip, so it had to be removed. In his words, he yeeted it into orbit like Bezos and Katy Perry. With the chip gone, the short cleared instantly, which meant it was the right part.
He then soldered a brand new chip in its place. The work was quick and precise, and once it was done, it was time for the moment of truth.
Signs of Life
When power was applied again, the current draw looked normal. The phone was breathing once more.
The screen, however, stayed black. To confirm whether the phone was really running, he connected it through an HDMI adapter. The Samsung logo popped up on an external monitor, followed by the home screen. The S24 Ultra had survived the electric chair.
Final Thoughts
Between my USB Killer experiment and my friend’s motherboard repair, this project turned into one of the most extreme tests I have done. The MacBook Pro was gone for good, the iPhone 15 Pro Max proved more resilient than expected, and the S24 Ultra ended up in the middle, destroyed by the USB Killer but revived through some serious repair work.
The main lessons are simple. A USB Killer can destroy your device instantly, and you should always wipe your phone before sending it in for repair.
And this one is a twist that nobody saw coming. It went from total destruction to resurrection.
See you in the next article.
