The imminent release of a new iPhone with a ‘Ceramic Shield’ for greater protection means only one thing — a crowd of wacky YouTubers chomping at the bit to create a new round of extreme stress test videos. And we mean extreme. To prepare for what’s inevitably coming, join us in a celebration of some of the craziest, most absurd, and most ruthless durability tests involving iPhones from over the years. Just don’t try any of these on your new device. Or on anything else, for that matter.
Box cutter
To ease you gently into the carnival of destruction that follows, we’ll start with one of the tamer efforts. YouTuber JerryRigEverything is always very methodical with his durability tests, but this early effort on the original iPhone SE is certain to make you cringe as he slowly drags a box cutter down the back of the Apple-made handset. Burning and bending also features.
Grinder
Here we see a brand new iPhone 7 take on a grinder. Guess which wins. Secured in a clamp, the grinder operator takes his time with the handset, but before long the entire device has been cut clean into two pieces. While many stress test videos end with the gadget being switched on to see if it still works, you won’t be surprised to learn that in this case, it wasn’t necessary.
Jello
YouTuber GizmoSlip was curious to see how an iPhone 11 Pro would perform if it was dropped from a height of 50 feet while encased in a large tub of Jello. Watch the video to see if it’s worth sealing your new iPhone inside a popular dessert to protect it from knocks and scrapes when you’re out and about.
Hydraulic press
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wltSliZcqU4?start=234]
Hopefully, there will never be a time when you accidentally leave your iPhone beneath a hydraulic press, but if you do, this is what’ll happen. To put it simply, you won’t be using it for TikTok or Instagram again, and phone calls will be out of the question, too.
Firecrackers
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4EgQijVzGs]
Granted, an iPhone 7 Plus completely surrounded by firecrackers is not a scenario your handset is ever likely to encounter, but nonetheless, Mr Indian Hacker was nevertheless keen to see how the device dealt with shenanigans of an explosive nature. Sadly, instead of emerging like a phoenix from the fiery chaos, the iPhone ends up flat on its, blackened and burned. Incredibly, the handset switches on, but the message that appears on its display comes as no surprise: “Your iPhone needs to cool down before you can use it.”
Nutella
YouTuber Zaryab Khan wanted to know how an iPhone X and Samsung Galaxy S8 would handle being encased inside a brick of frozen Nutella because, well, because. Extracting the two devices from the Nutella using hot water make this surely one of the muckiest stress tests that an iPhone has ever had to endure. Incredibly, both handsets power up, but which is the ultimate winner?
Sodium metal water
TechRax has been “smashing technology since 2009,” with the iPhone making numerous appearances in his increasingly outrageous stress tests. In this particular one, he uses sodium metal that “when exposed to water, blows up.” TechRax wraps the material around an iPhone 11 Pro, drops it in a bucket of water, and then legs it. The explosion is pretty big, but how does the iPhone fare?
Lava
What happens to this iPhone 11 Pro Max is just plain nasty, although at the same time quite spectacular. Superkot had the idea to use an electric melting furnace to create a blob of lava. Lava, for the uninitiated, is a substance that can be accurately described as “frickin’ hot.” And really, that tells you everything you need to know about what happens to this particular iPhone (note: a Nokia 3310 gets it first).
AK-47 bullet
Here, Filip Koroy of EverythingApplePro finds out how much protection an iPhone offers against a bullet fired from an AK-47. The experiment involves shooting the bullet at a line of iPhones to see, as Koroy puts it, “how many iPhones you would have to carry in your pocket in order for them to save your life.” Top tip: A certified bullet-proof vest will be a wiser choice if you believe you’re likely to come under fire at some point.
Crayon wax
This must be one of TechRax’s most bizarre — let alone dangerous — tests to date. He was eager to see how an iPhone 6S would deal with boiling hot crayon wax. For some reason, he wanted the wax to be blue, so he had to buy 30 boxes of crayons as there’s usually only one of each color in a box. To the absolute surprise of no one except TechRax himself, the gooey mess eventually bursts into flames and before you know it, he has two separate fires burning in his kitchen. “This is not good, this is not good,” TechRax says while holding a hot pan of blazing wax. The iPhone 6S did not survive, though TechRax, somehow, did.