14 DAY TRIAL // Just over a week ago, the techies at iFixyouri decided to drop-test an iPhone 4 assembled from (allegedly) genuine parts they were able to obtain. Lacking the motherboard, the device was put to the test using nothing but gravity. Without fail, Apple’s chemically strengthened glass panel shattered after just a few drops onto a hard surface. The team then promised to put a fully assembled iPhone 4 to the test. They got one, and they did, with pretty much the same results.
Apple states on its website that the iPhone 4’s glass shell is made from the same materials used in helicopters and high-speed trains. According to the phone’s makers, “The Retina display glass is chemically strengthened to be harder, more scratch resistant, and more durable than ever.”
Having been criticized for not using a fully equipped iPhone 4 to test Apple’s durability claims, the tinkerers at iFixyouri waited on the edge of their seats to finally obtain a factory-assembled device and repeat the process. This time around, they also made a video of their destructive test (embedded below).
Before dropping the phone onto the hard cement behind the Florida-based repair facility, the protagonist is careful to show viewers that he is, indeed, holding an original iPhone 4. He shows that it’s on by sliding to unlock the phone’s numeric keyboard for emergency calls (why bother activating it when you’re going to bust it up anyway, right?).
Finally, in what the protagonist calls a “non-scientific” test, the tester then takes a few steps towards a spacier area, and proceeds with dropping the device several times onto the concrete. It takes just two drops from almost a meter high to damage the device internally (it fails to respond to commands), and another two to break the front glass panel.
iFixyouri claims its video is completely unedited, and warns that, “What you are about to see is heart breaking.” Their next step is to shoot a repair session using the broken phone.