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iPhone 4S takes on Galaxy S III in drop test, gravity wins

Warranty outfit SquareTrade abuses the two top phones and records the carnage.

Abusing our gadgets to unscientifically prove a point could be America's new favorite pastime.
Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET

I'm as much a fan of zombie and vampire flicks as any other self-respecting tech blogger or tween, but lately, gadget torture shorts have become one of my favorite genres for video.

We've seen phones and tablets run over by cars, dropped from great heights, and dipped in hot lava for our enjoyment (and normally to sell us some sort of case or accessory in the process), so it only seems natural that the next step be the tech equivalent of an MMA cage match.

Gadget warranty outfit SquareTrade is happy to oblige with this video that pits the iPhone 4S against the Samsung Galaxy S III to see which can best handle the typical abuse dealt out to many smartphones by drops, kids, and drive-offs.

As you can see in the vid, both phones take a pretty serious beating, with the Galaxy S III faring a little worse. To be fair, it's pretty clearly a matter of where the impact point is on the device that determines total (and ugliest) breakage.

Fortunately, if you aren't sold on SquareTrade's warranty sales pitch, I hear there are some pretty heavy-duty cases out there that can help prevent such incidents, including unintentional skydiving.