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iPhone 6 “toughest iPhone yet” as it passes all SquareTrade’s breakability tests

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpx6r5FVXPo]

If anyone has more interest than its owner in how well a phone survives accidents, it’s the insurance companies that have to fork out afterwards. iDevice warranty specialists SquareTrade put the iPhone 6 through a series of breakability tests, and found that it was the toughest iPhone yet.

The tests began with ‘grippability’ – how likely you are to drop the phone in the first place – then ran through slide tests, submersion in water and a series of six drops from a height of four feet … 

The iPhone 6 passed with flying colors, not only out-performing all previous iPhones but beating every phone ever tested in the drop tests.

After six drops, the iPhone 6 had only a few nicks and scratches – that’s the best any phone has ever performed in our drop tests.

Surviving ten seconds immersion in water was likely helped by the new rubber gaskets around the volume buttons discovered during iFixit’s teardown.

The 6 Plus didn’t do quite so well in the drop test, the front and rear panels separating and audio ceasing to function, but still performed well enough to win the rating for “most durable phone with a screen larger than five inches.”

The tests didn’t include bendability, though it appears from a video test that the pressure required to bend one is pretty extreme.

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Comments

  1. Tim Jr. - 10 years ago

    I always cringed when I would see people sit with phones in back pocket.. How people could think thats OK with any smartphone, much less one so large and expect it to be ok is just beyond me. At BBY, we’d see iPhone 5 and 5’s come in bent because of it.. Then again, we’ve seen cracked android phones come in the same issue.. Silly is as silly does, silly isn’t very picky about what tech you use.

    So the bending thing is not new, just someone wanted a new ‘gate’, so ‘bentgate’ it is, though I think thats really dumb IMHO.

  2. BlueLightAlarm - 10 years ago

    Good to know. I was a bit worried when these stories about bending came out but I’m only interested in the smaller iPhone 6 anyway – besides, all the reports have been blown way out of proportion anyway. Seeing all these fAndroids gloat about it is just nauseating

  3. al0963 - 10 years ago

    I bet the bent iPhones were just publicity!

    • Jon Anderson - 10 years ago

      wat.

    • rzozaya1969 - 10 years ago

      Maybe, maybe not. How many bent phones were there? I just think that there sold tons of iPhones 6 plus, and I think that putting the phone that’s large and sit on it it’s normal to bend.

  4. Taste_of_Apple - 10 years ago

    Boom. People just like to complain when it comes to Apple products.

  5. Mark Binder - 10 years ago

    Phone manufacturers, especially Apple who claims to “raise the bar,” should design phones with real-life situations in mind. This is where I believe Nokia/Microsoft shines. I have the Lumia Icon made of a supposed “lesser quality material” (polycarbonate) with Gorilla Glass 3. I have dropped my Icon on multiple occasions and sat on it in my back pocket on a hard wooden stool and NOTHING has happened to it. There also manufacture the Lumia 1020 and Lumia 1520 made of the same material. None of these phones “bend.” So, which material really is the “premium” material?

    After 3 iPhones, I switched to the Lumia 928 and then the Icon. I wouldn’t purchase another Apple device now if someone paid me. I love the Windows OS with the live tiles, I love Cortana (even in BETA is IMO better than Siri) and I couldn’t be happier with the toughness of my device. I’m sure it would beat the iPhone in any drop test!

  6. patstar5 - 10 years ago

    They didn’t test #bendagate

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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