HUAQIANGBEI is not a strange name to Shenzhen people, sometimes it even arouses curiosity overseas for being named “China’s No. 1 electronics street.”

In Brian Merchant’s new book, “The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone,” a commemorative work to celebrate the iPhone’s 10th anniversary, he documented his on-site experience in Huaqiangbei.

The corresponding part opened by describing Huaqiangbei as a massive hardware warehouse of all sorts of chips, circuit boards and even raw metal materials; anything that you need to build a prototype for your new product, you will probably find in Huaqiangbei.

With the help of his guide, surnamed Wang, the technology journalist walked through the SEG Digital Plaza and tried to verify the rumor that an iPhone could be built from scratch there. Merchant asked a technician, identified as Jack, to assemble an iPhone for him.

Jack was asked to start from the most basic components and build upon them step by step. After a moment of hesitation, the technician agreed to be filmed during the process, and that Merchant would only have to pay 350 yuan (US$51).

The technician then entered a huge component purchasing center, only a few blocks away from the plaza. Merchant was overwhelmed by the number of iPhones of various colors, models and editions stacked together. Some booths were disguised as repair shops, where young people would examine and deconstruct cell phones. There were also booths selling customized phone cases. Later, Merchant would buy a gold “limited edition” iPhone 5 back cover and some tools for US$10.

Jack weaved through the iPhone parts booths and purchased the necessary components, such as a lens module, phone shell and screen. The battery only cost him 15 yuan. When they were done shopping, they bought an integrated iPhone 4s mainboard to save time.

When they returned to Jack’s shop, Jack managed to build the iPhone using only screwdrivers and his bare hands, and the whole process, including testing, only took him 15 minutes. In the end, Jack inserted a SIM card into the phone and it operated perfectly. Merchant compared Jack to IFixit’s cell phone renovating experts. (Lei Kaibin)