TechRax is not done with the iPhone Duo. Not long after the longtime torture tester sent Apple’s foldable down a 200-foot spiral staircase, he went back outside on Saturday afternoon with a fresh unit and a much simpler question.
This time the goal is to see how many everyday drops the $2,999 phone can take before it starts breaking. If you’re carrying one around already, it’s a good moment to check out this iPhone Duo case on Amazon before watching what happens.
The staircase video was all about extreme heights, with the Duo tumbling hundreds of steps in one go. In contrast, this new five-and-a-half-minute clip has no narration and no dramatic setup, just background noise and a phone slipping out of a hand over and over in the kind of spots where most of us actually drop our phones.
Unboxing happens right on a park bench, and within seconds the Duo is falling from hand and pocket height onto city sidewalks. TechRax drops it both folded and unfolded, onto plain concrete, a yellow tactile curb ramp, cracked driveways, asphalt next to a curb and a sidewalk by an iron fence. Other drops come off the top of a cardboard box and a clipboard, and some happen mid-stride while walking.
Pressure on the hinge is also part of the routine. Between rounds, he opens and closes the Duo, presses it flat against the ground and checks both screens. That is a very different kind of abuse than the single brutal fall in the earlier video, and it lines up more closely with the repeatable drops in the PhoneBuff iPhone Duo drop test.
For most of the video, the Duo shrugs off the falls. The cover display keeps lighting up, and about three minutes in the inner folding display is still showing the home screen and responding to touch after repeated drops in both positions.
Real damage finally shows up roughly three-quarters of the way through. After a drop onto the pavement near a curb, the glass over the rear cameras is shattered, and the back of the phone has chipped edges along its frame. Everyday bumps like these are exactly why it makes sense to grab a rugged iPhone Duo case on day one.
TechRax keeps going anyway. A few more sidewalk drops leave the phone with visible marks across its folding screen and a visibly worn hinge spine when he lays it open flat to inspect it. The video doesn’t keep a running count on screen, so there’s no official tally, but the Duo takes a long string of drops before anything gives.
Despite the shattered camera glass, the Duo never stops working in the footage. In the final moments, the cover display still lights up with the home screen, and the clip ends with the lock screen lit up and a peace sign from TechRax.
Results here are far kinder than in other launch-week tests. JerryRigEverything found dirt can break the hinge, and our look at the iPhone Duo teardown showed that replacing the inner folding display costs $1,499 without AppleCare+. You can watch the full video above.
Anyone still shopping can see our breakdown of iPhone Duo pricing and availability, and if a cracked camera is the last thing you want, take a minute to see the iPhone Duo case deal on Amazon first.
After watching the Duo survive a long string of everyday drops, are you more confident carrying one without a case, or less?
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