By flying to Australia, AppleTrack’s Sam Kohl brings us the first iPhone 15 drop tests available on YouTube. Based on his video, it seems the new rounded titanium edges are not better for drop test durability than the remarkably enduring iPhone 14 Pro design.
Whereas the flat stainless band on the 14 would absorb much of the impact, the iPhone 15 Pro rounded titanium sides seemed to cause the impact to spread into the front and back glass, causing spiderwebbing cracks.
Comparing the titanium and stainless steel edges directly, the stainless steel band of the 14 Pro is seemingly quicker to show dings and scratches. But the structural integrity helps the phone fare better overall.
As well as the move from a straight to a slightly rounded edge, another factor is that the properties of stainless steel as a material mean it can act as shock absorber in many instances, flexing under strain. Titanium is comparatively rigid, and that means any impact that does occur has to be dispersed into other areas of the device.
Top comment by Dan
Not too surprising actually. While more durable and stronger by weight, titanium is actually quite flexible and will transfer a lot more kinetic energy from the impact to the glass.
In the drop test, while the 14 Pro remained in almost perfect condition until the very end, the 15 Pro glass began to shatter about halfway through with spiderweb cracks appearing in the corners first. Successive drops caused increasing degrees of damage to the 15 Pro glass, on the back and front. Eventually, the bottom half of the iPhone 15 Pro display failed entirely (showing only white pixels) and the rear camera module detached altogether from the chassis.
Although the iPhone 15 Pro might not be as resistant to cracks as the 14 Pro, it still held up well. It took multiple drops onto concrete to induce glass cracking, and the Ceramic Shield front glass cover meant it took even longer for the display glass to be visibly broken.
You also always have to take into account that drop tests are notoriously unscientific, and you really need many different people to repeat the results of these kind of tests to get a clear picture of how the iPhone performs.
Watch the drop test in full here:
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