Experts believe that if you understand the nature of smartphones, they will not encounter any issues, whether you drop your phone from a height of 100 meters or from space.
A few months ago, many were astonished to see an iPhone remain intact after falling from a Boeing 737 MAX 9 during an in-flight door malfunction. But that also raised a bigger question: How did that iPhone survive?
Illustration of a smartphone falling from an airplane. (Photo: Slate).
Falling from an altitude of over 4,800 meters, the iPhone was almost “unscathed”, in airplane mode, and still had about 50% battery left. In contrast, if you accidentally drop your phone from a table to the ground, its screen may shatter like a spider web.
Why is that? Is it because the lucky iPhone was protected by a high-quality case and tempered glass? Or is it simply because it’s a newer, more durable iPhone 14 Pro Max?
There’s only one way to find out the answer: conduct an iPhone drop test. The Wall Street Journal created a drone system to test phone drops (Phone-Droppin). They dropped an iPhone 14 and a Samsung Galaxy S23 from heights of 1, 10, and 100 meters onto grass and asphalt. The results revealed many physical truths as well as the durability of the phones.
Explaining from a Scientific Perspective
The Wall Street Journal reporter purchased refurbished iPhone 14 and Galaxy S23 samples from a dealer. The company confirmed that the original hardware was intact, with genuine batteries and screens. Although not the latest models, these devices were equipped with the famous Corning glass, along with Apple and Samsung’s high durability claims.
The iPhone remained intact after falling from an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5. (Photo: @SeanSafyre/X).
In the drop test from heights of 1 and 10 meters onto grass, both the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy survived without cases or tempered glass. “Not too surprising,” remarked the Wall Street Journal.
However, during the drop from 100 meters, the reporter felt quite anxious seeing the two smartphones drop from the airplane like birds falling from the sky. Yet, despite the hard impacts upon landing, neither sustained serious damage, aside from some grass and dirt on the charging ports.
Explaining these results, Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer, stated that no damage would occur even if you dropped your phone from 100 meters or from space. “The results would be similar due to terminal velocity,” the expert noted. For a free-falling object, air resistance will equal gravitational force, and the object will fall at a constant speed, known as terminal velocity.
Rhett Allain, an associate professor of physics at Southeastern Louisiana University, explained that due to the mass, size, and shape of the smartphone, it would accelerate until reaching a speed of 96 km/h. At that point, air resistance prevents it from speeding up further. He mentioned that 100 meters in the air is sufficient height for all these devices to reach terminal velocity, whether they have cases or not.
Why Do Phones Break More Easily When Dropped on the Floor?
Another physical concept related to this phenomenon is deceleration. Rober and Allain explained that grass acts as a cushion for the falling object, helping to slow down the deceleration. Harder surfaces like asphalt or your bathroom floor cause a much more abrupt deceleration.
Therefore, the Wall Street Journal repeated all tests with the iPhone 14 and Galaxy S23 on asphalt. The result was that when dropped from a height of 1 meter, both devices survived after two drops on the asphalt, leaving only minor scratches and dents.
At a height of 10 meters, the unprotected iPhone hit the asphalt hard, shattering its back glass. Everything else remained intact and functional. For the Samsung smartphone, the top left and bottom right corners of the OLED screen were cracked, and the display started to flicker.
During the 100-meter drop test, the Wall Street Journal tested the iPhone with a protective case. The result was that the entire back glass of the iPhone cracked, including all the glass around the camera. However, the iPhone itself continued to function—it just needed repair for continued use.
The iPhone dropped from heights of 10 meters (top) and 100 meters (bottom). (Photo: Wall Street Journal).
As for the Galaxy S23, the device landed with such force that it damaged the rubber casing at the bottom right corner. The screen remained intact, but the entire body of the phone bent and would not turn on.
In fact, regarding the iPhone that remained intact after falling 5,000 meters from an airplane door malfunction, Sean Bates, the person who discovered it, reported finding it under a bush on the roadside, covered in grass.
Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, physics experts noted that a good phone case not only acts as a cushion for the phone when it falls, reducing sudden deceleration, but also protects vulnerable areas from impact and damage. “If you hit the corner of the phone, it has a very small contact area and a higher risk of breaking. If you hit it on a flat surface, the contact area will be larger,” Allain explained.
