Will there ever be Hackiphones?

[pinkoos]

I'm not talking about the cheap(er) Chinese knock-offs/clones that physically mimic the iPhone but are either running some version of Android or some other OS and that you can find at your local Hong Kong Market.

I'm talking about non-Apple hardware running genuine iOS.

Why haven't we seen this yet? I'm guessing it's some kind of limitation built into the chip or something.

Someone more techie than me please enlighten us.

Thanks.

[Chakravartin]

Here's one:
http://osxdaily.com/2011/02/24/iphone-ios-on-meizu-m8/

Sorry. 'Just noticed the comment that indicates that it's a fake.

[decay]

or the opposite: install Android Froyo on your iPhone!

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/10/bootl...a-compute/

http://www.androidcentral.com/install-fr...r-bootlace

[C(-)ris]

No. iPhone OS runs on the Apple A chips. Apple makes them, no one else can physically get the hardware to even try and get iOS to run on something else. There is no way to engineer the software to run on a different platform without the source code.

[pinkoos]

C(-)ris wrote:
No. iPhone OS runs on the Apple A chips. Apple makes them, no one else can physically get the hardware to even try and get iOS to run on something else. There is no way to engineer the software to run on a different platform without the source code.

Ah, okay. Makes sense. Thanks.

[Will Collier]

C(-)ris wrote:
No. iPhone OS runs on the Apple A chips. Apple makes them, no one else can physically get the hardware to even try and get iOS to run on something else. There is no way to engineer the software to run on a different platform without the source code.

Well, I can imagine a software emulator for the A5... but the processing overhead would probably make it operationally useless.

More interesting question: will Apple ever migrate actual Macs away from Intel to the A-chips, and thus kill Hackintoshes?

[Chakravartin]

C(-)ris wrote:
No. iPhone OS runs on the Apple A chips. Apple makes them, no one else can physically get the hardware to even try and get iOS to run on something else. There is no way to engineer the software to run on a different platform without the source code.

'Not true. You just need a DRC and the appropriate drivers. It's been done in the past for several OSes. You might recall that the old Virtual Gamestation software and several Windows emulators were made without access to source code.

[space-time]

C(-)ris wrote:
No. iPhone OS runs on the Apple A chips. Apple makes them, no one else can physically get the hardware to even try and get iOS to run on something else. There is no way to engineer the software to run on a different platform without the source code.

what about iPod Touch? I believe those still use an ARM processor, which should be available for other companies to buy as well.

[decay]

an iPod touch isn't a phone.

[silvarios]

space-time wrote: what about iPod Touch? I believe those still use an ARM processor, which should be available for other companies to buy as well.

All iOS devices use ARM processors.