Why the iPhone X should be handled with extra care
SquareTrade, which provides warranties for devices, beat up the new iPhone to prove how much you don't want to.
- Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Many of us cradle our iPhones like highly prized possessions. New tests suggest you'll want to baby the new iPhone X even more.
Gadget warranty company SquareTrade ran Apple's latest high-end handheld through a series of robotic torture tests and found that in addition to being the most expensive iPhone yet, the X is also the company's most delicate.
"Despite Apple's claims that their glass is the most durable ever in a smartphone, the iPhoneX is the most breakable iPhone we've ever tested," Jason Siciliano, a SquareTrade marketing executive, said in a release. "The iPhoneX's fragility, along with Apple's $549 fee for most repairs, make it the definition of a high-risk phone."
Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
A SquareTrade video shows the X's screen shattered after a six-foot (1.8-meter) face-down drop that rendered both the screen and the device's facial recognition feature unresponsive. A side drop test of a different unit also left the phone's screen numb to a touch, while a drop on its back glass panel left loose shards of broken glass on a third X.
Adding even more insult to all that physical injury, SquareTrade's technician found that the $1,000 iPhone is harder and more expensive to repair than its predecessor models.
It's worth mentioning here that it's in SquareTrade's interest as a device warranty company to highlight the fragility of an expensive device like the iPhone X.
That said, CNET's own durability tests returned similar results, with the iPhone X glass cracking on a first drop from only 3 feet (a little less than a meter), half the distance of SquareTrade's drop test.
Watch and compare our in-house tests below. You may also want to take a look at our top tips for protecting your new phone and our collection of the best iPhone X cases while you're at it.
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