Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone Plus and Samsung's Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge have undergone different kinds of durability tests, both by the manufacturers themselves and by third-party evaluators. However, the smartphones have not been compared to each other in terms of durability, until now.
SquareTrade, a company that provides extended warranty services to electronic devices and appliances, tested the four smartphones, plus Samsung's previous flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5, for their durability through a variety of tests.
The verdict of SquareTrade, after taking into account a total of eight breakability factors, is that the Galaxy S6 is the least breakable among the flagship smartphones.
In a bend test, the Galaxy S6 performed the best among the smartphones, as the device survived up to 110 pounds of pressure applied to it. In comparison, the Galaxy S6 Edge started to crack while the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus started to bend.
Previous bend tests by SquareTrade featured only the iPhone 6 Plus and the Galaxy S6 Edge. Testing the iPhone 6 Plus was a given since the device prompted the birth of the hashtag #bendgate due to a few 6 Plus phablets bending when placed in user's pockets. However, not including the Galaxy S6 was suspect because it was expected to be more popular than its Galaxy S6 Edge counterpart.
In a slide test, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge with their glass backs slid for a longer distance compared to all the other phones, but the devices were able to survive a total of six drops from a height of six feet without coming out broken. The iPhone 6 Plus entirely broke apart and ceased functioning after 30 minutes.
In a water resistance test, the devices performed almost equally after being submerged in water for a time of 10 seconds.
Combining the scores given to the devices across eight factors, SquareTrade came up with the following table to show the breakability of the devices.
The Galaxy S6 came out with the best average score of 4, while the iPhone 6 Plus had the worst average score of 6. The iPhone 6 was not far behind the Galaxy S6 with a score of 4.5. Glaring scores of 10 can be seen in the bendability test for the Galaxy S6 Edge and in the drop test for the iPhone 6 Plus.
According to SquareTrade, higher scores mean that the device is more at risk from breaking due to a normal accident, as the tests were conducted with real-world scenarios in mind.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
