If you ask repair service providers what is by far the most common type of damage to smartphones, the answer is quite clear. Both cracked backs and destroyed displays are far ahead, caused on the one hand by pressure on the side during transport in a bag, but mostly simply by a fall on the floor. For this reason, it can also be seen as an important improvement that the rear glass section of the iPhone 14 can finally be replaced individually – although one may ask why Apple handled it differently for years. A test now wanted to find out how stable the iPhone 14 Pro Max is if it were to make the involuntary journey to the floor.
Sensitive glass back on both
The results are compared with a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, which uses Gorilla Glass Victus+ for the display and “Armor Aluminum” for the housing. The first test run already shows why the interchangeable glass part of the iPhone 14 is important. While the display withstood the fall of 1.5 meters without damage, it has already completely torn the back and spider webs adorn the component. This happened when I fell on a hard stone floor – but since there are no functional restrictions, the visual impairments remain. As you can see in the slow motion, the device landed full face down with the camera side down. The S22 Ultra also shows damage, although not as clearly visible.
On the edge…
Normally, however, selective impacts on edges are much more devastating than just the display hitting the ground. In the second test run, the devices therefore fall in a different flight attitude. Good news again: Although there are marks on the edges of both smartphones, the displays are still unimpressed. If you compare this with the situation a few years ago, when such scenarios almost inevitably led to repairs, a lot has happened.
…and full on the display
Round three then finally causes damage to the front, because this time the iPhone 14 Pro Max and Galaxy S22 Ultra fall directly with the display on the stone floor. The Galaxy has cracks across the entire surface, but the upper right part of the iPhone is very badly affected. However, Face ID continues to work even though the cameras are in close proximity. Biometric authentication is no longer possible on the Samsung because the fingerprint scanner integrated into the display refuses to work.
Conclusion and end result
Even after repeated falls on hard surfaces and clearly visible damage, the smartphones were still usable, apart from the failure of individual functions. There is a tie in the final points classification, but the iPhone is still slightly ahead in everyday use. The point deduction for the sensitive back is offset by the better performance of the display – and the latter is more important for the operation of the device.
Tag: iphone design, iphone 14, apple iphone, iphone release