Apple’s latest flagship smartphone, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, has faced skepticism over its durability due to a handful of viral videos circulating online.
However, according to recent testing conducted by Consumer Reports (CR), the top-of-the-line iPhone exhibits robust resilience, akin to its predecessors and high-end counterparts from other manufacturers.
The phone successfully withstood multiple drop tests and resisted 110 pounds of bending pressure.
CR’s rigorous examination employed a high-precision Instron compression test machine, applying force at various points on the device. The iPhone 15 Pro Max not only emerged unscathed but demonstrated resilience, recovering flex when force was released.
In an extensive drop test involving 100 drops within a specialized tumbler, designed to simulate waist-high falls onto concrete-like surfaces, a separate iPhone 15 Pro Max exhibited only minor scratches.
CR subjects all phones in its ratings to this demanding test, checking for damage after 50 drops and then conducting an additional 50 drops to assess durability.
The results align with CR’s real-world experience, where an iPhone 15 Pro Max survived accidental tumbles onto rocky terrain without sustaining any damage.
These findings contrast with videos from online reviewers that depicted the phone’s glass breaking in improvised drop and bending scenarios, occasionally leading to a web of cracks on the phone’s back.
Both the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max feature a new titanium design, touted by Apple as combining durability with the industry-leading Ceramic Shield on the front and tough back glass.
It’s worth noting that claims of iPhone fragility have surfaced in the past. In 2014, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus faced similar skepticism with the hashtag #bendgate.
CR’s testing at that time, using the same Instron machine, demonstrated that both models could withstand reasonable force.
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How come the bend test had 2 points of pressure instead of the usual 1 ? Is that more realistic or something ? Would love to see bend test with previous 1 point of pressure test.
CR is not to be trusted. Bendgate was real as my iPhone 6 needing to be replaced 3 times can attest – and I’ve been buying iPhones since the 3G. The problem was when the phone was bent near the volume buttons, it would disconnect a chip and cause “touch disease”. Since the phone was thin and had a weak point (which was specifically fixed in the 6s), it was a design defect. But CR tested it by applying pressure along the entire width of the phone instead of just the weak point and declared the whole endgate fiasco a myth! They also unjustifiably rolled back another negative finding they made on iPhones and now here they go again flying in the face of clear evidence of videos you can watch with your own eyes. CR are just tools of corporations that somehow need to “prove” they don’t have a problem.