If you picked up an Apple iPhone 5 today, chances are you’ve been babying it because it’s brand new and iPhones are typically rather fragile.
Luckily, it turns out that the new iPhone 5 is the first iPhone that can actually take a hit: Android Authority has taken initiative and found out just how durable Apple’s new – and controversial – construction and design are. Spoiler: it’s very durable. So durable, in fact, that it even outlived a Samsung Galaxy S III.
The video is up above, but regardless of your thoughts on the new iPhone 5, you have to admit that the fact it can outlive a Galaxy S III in terms of drop tests is pretty neat.
My coworker dropped his S III taking it out of his pocket, had a really flimsy plastic case on it as well, it cracked it down the entire length of the screen. My EVO 4g survived a fall while I was running on a treadmill, scratch and crack free. So far I only have a tiny Dent on my 4G LTE, The S III looks like a good phone, but too flimsy.
S3 is a Samsung phone which uses cheap feeling plastic. They should have had compared it to the HTC One X which is also a unibody design, such as the new iPhone.
Apple actually show that they’ve learned from their mistakes – no glass back any more.
My ogevo could take a beating like no other. Its been dropped on treadmills, concrete floors, toilets, etc. And its still working. I’m scared with this gnexus tho. I don’t think I’ll be showing off its durability. I wonder if less durable phones is The consequence of making them thinner and lighter.
I’d personally prefer a heavier phone for the added durability. I’ve dropped my G2, sadly, many times, it’s not become unusable, but it has definitely stood the test of time, until last week. Now it seems to have a short in it and continues to reboot or simply shut off out of nowhere.
Oh well, that’s what insurance is for I guess. I would also very much have liked a more scientific approach because this video looks a bit more like a minor fling than a simple slip and drop, which I think would alter the drop path and subsequently the place the phone receives impact.
Members of my family have lost both an iPod and and iPhone to relatively small drops — one from a pants pocket and another from a school desktop to a vinyl floor. It’s excellent to see that Apple has not only gotten the message but has managed to engineer an effective response.
Thanks for making this video available.
WOW, still not getting one lol.
I’ve been so lucky (knock on the wood), I’ve dropped my GS3 about 10-15 times for the past two months that, and it survived every drop!
Most of the drop are on carpet, but a few of them are hard drop on hardwood floor and bathroom tile floor! I had a hard case on, and one time I literally threw my phone across the room REAL hard on hardwood floor (I saw a spider on my bed and it scared the Sh*t of out me), the case fell apart but my phone remain unscratch, Thank god!
wow! i wouldn’t want to be that phone!
I dropped my Motorola RAZR Maxx on the sidewalk from waist high on Saturday. I don’t use a screen protector or a case. Nothing broken. Still works. It must have impacted right on the bottom right in the middle. There’s some scratches there now.
Still no reason for me to buy an overpriced iPhone
Impressive survival from the iphone. However you got to take these test with a grain of salt. Each test is not identical in the way the device hits the ground.
I’ve dropped an EVO 4G from about 6 feet and it survived without any screen damage, while a buddy of mine had his fall of the edge of the bed and completely shatter his screen. Just depends on how the device falls.
Either way, the iphone does well, but hard to buy into a closed ecosystem like apple. I’ll stick to my GS3.
Impressive. I thought the GSIII was better than the iPhone 5. Very, VERY impressive
definitely learned from there mistakes, The amount of iPhones I’ve had to fix for the minor drops is ridiculous. Still wouldn’t get one though. Although the Galaxy S3 drop wasn’t too disappointing.
Glad to hear, since it’s true the iPhone’s have a horrendous track record of poor durability.