A series of drop tests have earned the iPhone X the title as "the most breakable iPhone ever," which is probably not what you want to hear if you bought the $999 smartphone.
Things haven't been going well for the iPhone X lately, with its notch recently mocked by a Samsung ad, its Face ID facial recognition feature reportedly tricked by similar-looking brothers, and Apple stating that burn-in and color shifting on the device's display are normal. Extreme breakability is now being added to that list.
SquareTrade Drop Tests On iPhone X
SquareTrade, in a bid to sell its insurance plan to customers, performed different tests to check the durability of the iPhone X. The reasons for the smartphone earning the title as "the most breakable iPhone ever" was evident from the very first one.
In a face down drop test, the iPhone X shattered, and its screen became unresponsive. Even its Face ID feature completely failed after that.
Surprisingly, the side drop test did the most internal damage to the iPhone X. The externals of the smartphone only saw cosmetic damage, but the screen became inoperable. The back drop test, on the other hand, resulted in loose glass shards after the back panel shattered, which made the iPhone x hard to hold.
It should be noted, however, that the iPhone X was dropped from 6 feet, while the average pocket height is just 3 feet.
In the shot test, which was meant to simulate the iPhone X falling off the roof of a vehicle, the back panel and screen suffered from cracks. However, the biggest damage was to the device's Face ID and "home" swipe command.
In the 60-second tumble test inside the Tumble Bot, an apparatus that resembles a washer or dryer, the iPhone X also failed miserably. The screen was able to recognize touch input even after the suffered cracks, but with the swipe-to-unlock command failing, users were trapped to whatever app was open before the tumble.
The water dunk test is the only test where the iPhone X performed well. The device survived being submerged under 5 feet of water for 30 minutes, with the only effect of the test being some muffled audio.
Take Care Of That iPhone X
With the extreme fragility of the iPhone X, users are highly recommended to at least protect the smartphone with a case, and if possible, also subscribe to the $199 AppleCare+ plan that extends the warranty to two years and adds up to two more incidents of accidental damage under the coverage.
With AppleCare+, screen damage repair will cost only $29 and other damage repair, including for a shattered back glass, will cost $99. Outside of AppleCare+, screen damage repair will cost $279, while other damage repair will cost $549, more than half of the iPhone X price of $999.
