You know how technology publications do “drop tests” on gadgets like smartphones, just to see if the thing is likely to survive if and when you knock yours off the kitchen counter? Well, an iPhone X recently passed an accidental drop test from 11,000 feet. From an airplane.
That beats a story from last year in which an iPhone 6 lived on after plummeting 984 feet from an airplane in Brazil.
Considering many people experience an understandable moment(s) of panic when their iPhone slips out of their hand while they’re walking along and then they accidentally kick it down the stairs, pilot dmloftus’ story about his iPhone X is all the more remarkable. Particularly because the phone survived without any damage. Not. A. Scratch.
Just wanted to snap a few pics
As he described it on the DiamondAvatars.net forum, dmloftus just wanted to take a few photos of a cool-looking cloud formation. He was flying his DA40 aircraft at 175 MPH and just over 11,000 feet of altitude, en route from Colorado Springs to Atlanta, where he lives.
But a bump from turbulence moved his hand too close to the small window on the side of the canopy, and the iPhone X was sucked right through it.
Obviously, chances seemed slim that he’d ever see the phone again. After all, he flew on home to Atlanta and figured he might as well upgrade from the 4-year-old device to a 5G model anyway.
When he brought in an older iPhone 6S to AT&T to see about an upgrade, he got quite a surprise. Find My Phone indicated his iPhone X might not be dead. It was near Blythe, Arkansas and had reported a last location from the previous evening.
Recovery mission
Long story short — you can read the pilot’s tale — he and a friend ended up flying to Arkansas and searching through a soybean field to find the phone. To their amazement, it worked as soon as they plugged it in via Lighting Cable in a borrowed car.
Dmloftus credits more than just the durable iPhone X for its survival. Fortunately, it landed on a soft soybean crop, and landed near enough to a cell phone tower for a location to be transmitted.
And then there’s the case, of course. He had purchased an Otterbox Defender Series case for the phone in 2018. But after the holster tab broke, the warranty provided a free replacement. The rugged case apparently did its job, and then some.
Via — DiamondAvatars.net
