iPhone Drop Test Carnage: All Models Shatter in Exhaustive Video

Daniel Howley
·Technology Editor
iPhone 6 with shattered screen
iPhone 6 with shattered screen

At some point, you’re going to drop your new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. And if a YouTube video by gadget tester Taras Maksimuk is any indication, your handset is unlikely to fare well.

In the more-than-12-minute-long video that will make iPhone fans weep, Maksimuk, who goes by the Twitter handle @TechRax, dropped the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, along with every previous version of Apple’s smartphone, onto a concrete surface from a height of 5 feet.

The result: technological carnage. Each iPhone’s screen shattered when dropped on its display. Still, most of the phones withstood being dropped on their edges.

All you Samsung fans giggling at the thought of Apple fanboys seeing their precious smartphones shattered might want to check your schadenfreude. Maksimuk said he saw similar results when he tested Samsung’s Galaxy S5.

Worth the carnage
Maksimuk told Yahoo that the test cost him $4,000 in sacrificial iPhones. To recoup that expense, his video will need to generate about 1 million views. The video was posted Sept. 20. As of this writing Sept. 22, about 200,000 people have watched it.

Maksimuk’s results run counter to what iPhone warranty-seller SquareTrade found in its testing. According to the company, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are the most durable phones Apple has ever created.

In fact, the iPhone 6 survived being dropped from a height of 4 feet without much issue. The iPhone 6 Plus, though, saw its front and back panels separate on its left side, but its display was left intact.

To reiterate: SquareTrade performed its drop tests from a lower height than Maksimuk’s tests and only let the phones fall on their sides.

Of course, drop tests are an imperfect science. Your phone’s survival depends largely on the height from which you drop it; whether it falls on its edge, back, or display; and what surface you drop it onto. In other words, your results may vary.

If you really want to keep your favorite new gadget safe, your best bet is to pick up a strong case.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to mourn the loss of all those smartphones sacrificed in the name of science and YouTube awesomeness.

(via: LaughingSquad/ Nerdcore)

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley or on Google+ here.