iPhone 14 Pro Max drop test goes about as well as you’d expect
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Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max didn’t come unscathed from a recent drop test against Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra and may have new owners of Apple’s flagship phones looking for cases.
An important caveat here. youtuber PhoneBuff’s New iPhone 14 Pro Max CVS Galaxy S22 UYltra Drop Test (opens in new tab) was sponsored by – you guessed it – casemaker Casetify. A result in which neither phone survives is of course in the interest of the maker of the case. Still, we’ve seen drop tests of previous iPhones that used similar types of drop devices, ground clearance, and array of tests. The results we saw were not surprising, but are also a good reminder that these are metal devices wrapped in glass – reinforced glass – yet glass.
As for the tests, PhoneBuff placed an iPhone 14 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and another iPhone 14 Pro Max in a Casetifiy case, through the same series of drop tests from a distance of 1.5 meters from the ground.
PhoneBuff dropped the phones on their backs first, then positioned them so that they landed on a corner, then did another go of where the phones landed on their screens.
The results, to be charitable, were mixed.
The back of the iPhone 14 Pro Max broke on the first drop, although all the glass remained on the phone. Notably, the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s larger camera array also suffered some damage, though the cameras still functioned properly.
Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra also cracked, although it didn’t look as bad as the iPhone.
Both phones coped quite well with corner drops, although the aluminum body of the Galaxy S22 Ultra looked a little more worn than the steel band of the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
A drop on the face or screen of the devices broke a corner of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, while the screen of the Galaxy S22 Ultra looked more severely damaged.
One last drop from the same distance, but on steel, made pieces of the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s back glass fly, although it remained functional. The screen of the S22 Ultra ended up with some dead pixels in one corner.
The results do not surprise us.
While TechRadar is not in the habit of intentionally dropping phones to test them, I accidentally dropped an unprotected iPhone 14 Pro Max from 24 inches away without breaking it. And I memorably dropped a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (in a case) from a distance of four feet onto a tile floor.
In that case, the Galaxy S22 Ultra screen cracked (it was such a clean break that I didn’t notice it right away). The phone still functions perfectly to this day.
What is going on here?
While we’re not experts in drop science, we do know that there are differences in the construction of the iPhone 14 Pro Max and Galaxy S22 that may help explain some of PhoneBuff’s and even our own results.
In the case of that shattered back cover on the iPhone 14 Pro Max, it’s worth noting that Apple doesn’t use the same material on the front and back of the device. The back is made of dual-ion glass. It can be considered similar to the Gorilla Glass Victus used on the back of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Neither glass held up so well in a five-foot drop onto concrete.
On the front of Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max (and the rest of the iPhone 14 line) is Apple’s Ceramic Sheild. This is material infused with ceramic crystals. In PhoneBuff’s tests, the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s screen held up better in tests with the front down. This may be due to the ceramic shield. True, the glass still cracked, but only in one section. The Victus-covered screen of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Gorilla Glass took more damage during the fall.
Look, this is a test of the iPhone 14 Pro Max (and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra) conducted by a company paid for by a case manufacturer. On the other hand, if you just paid $1,099 / £1,199 / AU$1,899 or more for an iPhone 14 Pro Max, it wouldn’t hurt to buy a case too.
We’ll start by looking at this list of the best iPhone 14 Pro cases.