Poor iPhone 6 endures its most extreme drop test yet
We've seen what happens to the latest iPhones from 4 feet up, but what if you multiply the distance of that drop by, say, a thousand?
- Finalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have been in the wild for less than a week and have already suffered all sorts of abuse, including many a drop test. None, however, are quite as extreme as the treatment handed out by serial gadget torturer Richard Ryan.
Earlier this week, Ryan showed us what happens when you subject the iPhone 6 Plus to a dip in liquid nitrogen followed by a whack with a sledgehammer. I won't spoil it, but let's just say the warranty probably won't cover the outcome. Ryan then tested the iPhone 6 Plus' compatibility with a 50-caliber bullet. For his next trick, Ryan and a few buddies jumped out of a plane in wingsuits, rigged up with GoPros, to drop an iPhone 6 Plus from somewhere between 7,000 and 12,000 feet up.
Before the drop, Ryan made sure Find my iPhone was activated and also attached a backup GPS beacon to the back of the phone. After hitting the ground, he was able to locate the thrill-seeking phone in a dirt field using the native iPhone-locating app. It looked to have impacted face first, digging itself a pretty substantial divot into the soil and shattering the screen.
Despite the glass giving way, the phone did take a monstrous licking and keep on ticking; it appeared to still be functional, but we're still waiting for Ryan to post the footage from the falling iPhone itself. Check out the whole thing below. It's amazing the dumb things that happen to smart phones.