iPhone 5 (vs Samsung Galaxy S3) Drop Tests Show Very Durable Device and Screen

Friday September 21, 2012 9:34 am PDT by Arnold Kim

With the launch of the iPhone 5, several companies are performing tests and benchmarks on the new device. One common effort is to put any new iPhone in a series of drop tests to see how well it survives common falls.

Android Authority (via iPhoneinCanada) posts a drop test comparison video between the Samsung Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5 and actually finds in favor of the iPhone 5.

Well, as much as we hate to admit it, the iPhone 5 did amazingly well in our drop test, while the Samsung Galaxy S3 came out in pretty bad shape. It’s the cold hard truth that we can’t hide and we can’t ignore.
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The hard aluminum shell of the iPhone 5 withstood the impact pretty well, and the glass protecting the display remained intact. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S3 predictably lost its back cover and suffered damage to the casing and the front glass. Sad, sad, sad.

Meanwhile, iFixYouri (via 9to5Mac) also posted a video showing their version of the drop test which also tested dropping the iPhone 5 from various heights.

The iPhone 5 survived all the falls until they finally threw the device screen down. They describe the device as the "most durable iPhone" they've seen.

Top Rated Comments

(View all)

World Citizen

96 months ago

Most important conclusion in first id : "its just a cheap plastic anyway"

Couldn't find better words for that.

Ow and even the cracks look better than on a Samsung... Tho, it seems like they have tried to copy them.

Rating: 38 Votes

carrako

96 months ago

very impressive. Makes me cringe everytime these guys make these videos....OUCH

Rating: 27 Votes

Mars Is Waiting

96 months ago

Drop your phone from just about any height, but don't rub the edges against anything. :p

Rating: 18 Votes

ethana

96 months ago

* Screen resolution
* screen tech (OLED - better contrast ratio)
* 2x more RAM
* wireless charging
* two baseband chips (simultaneous LTE data and voice)
* bigger battery (better battery time for talk and stand by)
* wireless charging
* memory card (more storage)

* Screen resolution - Irrelevant. ppi is high enough on iPhone to not see pixels.

* screen tech (OLED - better contrast ratio) - Opinion. IPS lets me see in daylight better

* 2x more RAM - Irrelevant. I have games on my iPhone 4S that play better than on a Android device with double the RAM. It's about how the OS is designed, not how much RAM you have.

* wireless charging - Opinion. I find this to be more of a gimmick. It's not hard to just snap in a cable at the bottom in half a second. And I don't want to lug around a huge charging pad everywhere I go.

* two baseband chips (simultaneous LTE data and voice) - I agree, for Verizon and Sprint customers this is better.

* bigger battery (better battery time for talk and stand by) - Comes at the downside of a bigger screen, which is tough for one-handed use and smaller hands.

* wireless charging - You already said this but it makes your list look bigger.

* memory card (more storage) - 64GB isn't big enough for you? I do like how it's expandable though, but again, the price to pay is the size and width of the device.

One more thing. Dear Fandroids and Windows Phone geeks (and iPhone fans too by the way). SPECS DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY MAKE YOUR PHONE BETTER THAN OTHERS.

E

Rating: 16 Votes

samac92

96 months ago

Cheap plastic, cheap construction and the fandroids can no longer use the excuse that it is more durable.

Rating: 15 Votes

EasygoingBird

96 months ago

The biggest surprise here is that the S3 fits in his pocket

Rating: 14 Votes