First iPhone 16 Pro durability tests show downside to new ultra-thin bezels

Chance Miller | Sep 20 2024 - 2:40 pm PT

The iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro are here, and so are the first durability tests. If you want to watch Apple’s latest flagship phones go through drop tests, knife tests, and more, head below for some links.

Our friend Sam Kohl traveled all the way to Australia just to be one of the first to test the iPhone 16 Pro durability. In his testing, Sam noticed a potential durability downside of the iPhone 16 Pro’s thinner bezels during drop tests. When dropped on the side, the impact seems to have more of a direct impact on the functionality of the display – even though the display itself doesn’t shatter or crack.

On the iPhone 16 Pro, I think there’s a catch because the bezels are just so thin. So, when you’re getting something like a corner impact or something that just barely touches that edge of the screen, the display panel of the 16 Pro was extremely fragile and a Noticeably more so than on the 15 Pro.

Over the course of additional testing, Sam found that damage on the iPhone 16 Pro was “way less severe overall” when compared to the iPhone 15 Pro.

TechRax has also posted a durability test with the iPhone 16 Pro, taking a hammer and a knife to the new device. As expected, there aren’t many notable differences here compared to iPhones from previous years. If you take a knife to the titanium edges of the iPhone 16 Pro, they’ll eventually scratch. If you hit the back of the device with a hammer, it will eventually shatter. And if you hit the iPhone 16 Pro’s screen with a hammer, it, too, will shatter.

See it for yourself:

We’ll update this post as more durability and drop tests of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro emerge over the coming days. We’re also expecting the first teardowns to emerge soon.

In the meantime, did you buy a new iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro? If so, what do you think of it so far? Let us know down in the comments.