iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro Drop Test: How High Can They Survive?

What can crack the glass on the new iPhones? The iPhone 11 and 11 Pro went under eight drop tests in which they were thrown onto hard concrete, conducted by CNET. The phones’ glass didn’t crack, but that does not mean the phones were not damaged.

When Apple unveiled its newest iPhones earlier this month, the company said that their glass is the “toughest ever in a smartphone, on the front and back.” We learned that the iPhone uses custom-made glass from Corning, which also makes Gorilla Glass.

In 2018, the tech giant also claimed that the iPhone XS offered “the most durable glass ever built into a smartphone,” and after being dropped onto the sidewalk four times, its screen didn’t crack. However, the iPhone cracked at the fourth drop.

Now, the iPhone 11 will undergo drop test on a concrete floor, also conducted by CNET, and they used a system helping each phone fall on the back or the screen directly, which would control the drops better.

After each drop, the tester checked the phones for:

• Cracks or scratches on the screen.
• Cracks or scratches on the back.
• If the display still worked.
• If the camera still worked.

The first drop: 1 meter on the back and the screen

In the first attempt, the tester positioned the phone so that it fell screen faced down. From this height, when the phone landed on the front, it wasn’t damaged. The result of the 11 Pro was the same with no damaged spotted and everything worked fine.

The drop was repeated once with the phones’ back faced down. As expected, there was no damage.

The second drop: 2 meters on the back and the screen

With this new height, the tester also conducted two drops. There was no damage spotted on the iPhone 11 after it got dropped on the back and the front.

The iPhone 11 Pro, however, showed a tiny area that was discolored or its pixels were damaged near the screen’s bottom. But it didn’t have any cracks on the glass and the display worked normally.

The third drop: 2.4 meters on the back and the screen

The exact height in the third attempt was 2.57 meters.

As the tester dropped the iPhone 11 on the front, its glass didn’t crack. Nevertheless, when dropped on the back, the phone had some damage, including a cosmetic scratch on its top lens frame and a minor scuff on its aluminum bumper. However, the camera worked well.

There were some additional damaged pixels when the tester dropped the 11 Pro on its screen. The device also showed some minor cosmetic damages on its camera housing.

The final drop: 3.3 meters

In the last attempt, the iPhones were taken to the highest possible, though most of us are unlikely to drop the device from this high.

This time, the tester dropped the phones only once, with their screens faced down. The iPhone 11 fell on a corner first, then it flipped and landed its screen on the floor. The 11 Pro, on the other hand, fell on its side first, then flipped and landed on the floor with its back face down.

Once again, their glass didn’t break either on the front or back. However, the rear cameras on the iPhone 11 didn’t work and as the tester launched the Camera app, there was just a black screen though the True Depth lens was good. After restarting the device, the black screen was still there.

Regarding the iPhone 11 Pro, the tray for SIM card popped out as it landed but the tester could put it back. There was a small bulge as the screen didn’t sit perfectly flush with the phone’s frame. In addition, there was a discolored area on the phone’s back.

Breakdown

While we cannot tell for sure the iPhone 11 and 11 Pro are stronger than last year’s counterparts, it’s safe to say they can survive far more drops onto a concrete floor than you may have expected.

Though the phones didn’t crack, they weren’t damage-free either. There were several damaged pixels on the iPhone 11 Pro and the rear camera on the iPhone 11 stopped working after the fourth attempt.

When the tester reached out to Apple for further info, the company stated that:

Anyway, no matter how strong your iPhone is, try not to drop them, at all.