Last January, an astonishing story about an iPhone 14 Pro Max falling from a plane and surviving made the rounds on the web. As a reminder :
While the passengers expected to land safely at the Los Angeles terminal (LAX), a window and part of the fuselage broke. This would have led to the detachment of one of the emergency doors, which itself created a draft which sucked objects towards the outside (including the iPhone).
This is not the first time that this has happened, since in 2019, we shared a similar story with you, this time of an iPhone 6S.
However, we do not know if this is purely a matter of luck, or if iPhones are indeed capable of withstanding a fall from a plane. In order to verify this, journalist Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal carried out a video crash test.
A drone, smartphones, and a journalist
In order to obtain reliable results, several iPhone 14s were tested, but also Samsung S24s. They were dropped several times from more or less significant heights, into the grass, then onto the road. Here is the video to see the result:
Race results
We finally notice that the screens of the two smartphone models are super robust: none were broken! Whether on the grass, on the asphalt, from 1 meter, or from a height of 100 meters, the screens resisted all falls. However, we can attribute much of the work to the protective case.
Furthermore, on the lawn, the iPhone and the S23 suffered no damage, however on the tarmac, both were damaged at the rear. We also notice that the S23 withstands the final crash test better from the sky to the asphalt, but it was lucky to fall on the corner of the phone case and absorb more of the impact.
Finally, the video concludes with a scientific explanation of the phenomenon. In reality, whether the iPhone falls from space, from a plane, or from the 2nd floor, there would be no difference in maximum speed reached during the fall. The cadence remains the same, regardless of the height.
