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Which phone cracks up in iPhone 5 vs. Galaxy S3 torture test?

SquareTrade dropped, drowned, and pounded both all-star phones, and one clearly cracked under the pressure. But was it a fair test?

Eric Mack Contributing Editor
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Eric Mack
2 min read
After being submerged and worse, one phone emerged far less damaged. Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET

Smartphone sadism continues in this face-off video between the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S3 from gadget warranty outfit SquareTrade.

After being dropped, drowned, and pounded with various household objects, the lightweight, metal-backed iPhone 5 seems to hold up much better overall than its Android arch-nemesis, but the demonstration is far from scientific. The Galaxy S3 took a serious face shot to its glass screen in the drop test, whereas the iPhone 5 lucked out and bounced off its side edge.

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As you can see for yourself below, the Samsung phone also gets the hard, blunt edge of a beer bottle for its second screen smashing, whereas the iPhone catches the smooth, round side of the brew and survives. So it's tough to say if the iPhone is actually more durable or just luckier.

For what it's worth, I don't think SquareTrade is showing a pro-Apple bias here. In a similar showdown done with the iPhone 4S, the outcome was much more even, although the Galaxy S3 did take a little more of a licking again overall. Hopefully the next such test will be done with an Android phone running Jelly Bean so we can add some Siri vs. Google Now smack-talking to the mix.

Watch the video yourself and let us know what you think in the comments.