For some reason, humans like to destroy things. Whether on purpose or accidentally, this has led to numerous breakability tests whenever new hardware becomes available. In SquareTrade’s latest breakability test, they take Apple’s new flagship device — the iPhone X — and see just how breakable it is.
Apple touts that the iPhone X has “the most durable glass ever in a smartphone,” but glass is glass after all and it’s bound to break, shatter, or crack at some point.
“You’d expect there to be a high price to pay for a beautiful phone like the iPhone X. Unfortunately for consumers, in the end it’s likely to be more than the $1,000 they’ve already invested.” said Jason Siciliano, vice president global creative director at SquareTrade. “Despite Apple’s claims that their glass is the most durable ever in a smartphone, the iPhone X is the most breakable iPhone we’ve ever tested. The iPhone X’s fragility, along with Apple’s $549 fee for most repairs, make it the definition of a high-risk phone.”
So just how durable is the glass on the iPhone X? SquareTrade has been putting the latest phones through their paces over the past couple years. The higher a device scores on a 100-point scale which is based on factors like physical characteristics, components, and drop, dunk, bend, tumble, and shot tests to simulate everyday use, the more breakable it is.
Here’s just how breakable SquareTrade found the iPhone X is:
- Face Down Drop Test: On its first drop, SquareTrade saw the iPhone X shatter, its screen become unresponsive and its widely touted facial recognition feature fail completely.
- Side and Back Drop Tests: Remarkably, the side drop did the most internal damage to the phone. While the outside of the phone only suffered cosmetic damage, the screen was rendered inoperable. Meanwhile, the back drop completely shattered the back panel leaving loose shards of glass, making it difficult to hold.
- Dunk Test: The iPhone X faired similar to the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models, surviving 30 minutes under five feet of water with some audio muffling during playback.
- Shot Test: Meant to simulate a phone falling off the roof of a car, the shot test showed that the iPhone X is prone to damage from a variety of drops. While the screen and back panel did experience cracks, the biggest damage came from both Face ID and the new “home” swipe command failing.
- Tumble Test: Sixty seconds in the Tumble Bot was no friend to the iPhone X either. Although the screen was able to recognize touch through cracks suffered during the test, the “home” swipe command failed, stranding users in the app that happened to be open.
- Repairability: SquareTrade’s Master Technician noted that the iPhone X has a thinner, more costly OLED screen that’s more expensive to replace, a smaller logic board, multiple cables, and a split battery that’s more difficult to remove. All of which may be why Apple is charging a whopping $279 for front screen replacement and $549 for other repairs.
Check out SquareTrade’s iPhone X breakability tests and results in the video below:
Of course, SquareTrade offers up insurance plans which are often cheaper than plans you may be able to get through your carrier. If you’re concerned about damaging your $1000 iPhone X and having to be out of pocket for repairs, you may want to check out SquareTrade’s smartphone insurance price plans.
What do you think about SquareTrade’s iPhone X breakability test? Do you buy accidental damage insurance on your smartphones? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
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