I've had a look around the iFixit site a few times and always thought it would be possible to build my own iPhone using the parts available. Could someone confirm/deny this and if it would be cheaper? (It seems like it would be). I think building a 5S would great but the parts aren't available yet.
Theoretically speaking, it's possible.
Financially and logistically speaking, it's a nightmare. Finding all the parts and spending the money to acquire them will cost not only tons of dollars, but tons of time.
You're much better off buying some klutz's shattered-screen unit and fixing it than starting from scratch. Best place for such a purchase is most likely Craigslist, since folks get tired of staring through a spider web and don't know / cannot be inconvenienced to repair it. eBay isn't as conducive since lots of sellers will sell phones that they couldn't fix (so it would be difficult for you to do the same) -- otherwise they would've fixed it and sold it for much more money.
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