Newly released smartphones, especially flagships, are always subjected to torture tests by techies. Apple’s iPhone 7 was cut by a razor blade, bent and smashed on a hydraulic press.
Fortune reported that a reviewer, JerryRigEverything, posted a video on YouTube on Thursday subjecting the iPhone 7 to a scratch and bend test. He claims to have conducted similar physical durability tests on 38 other phones.
For the scratch test, he said that most phone screens would show scratches at level 6. Using special tools, JerryRigEverything proved that the scratches start to show at that level and became deeper when he moved to level 7, indicating the model used regular glass and not sapphire which is stronger and more resistant against scratch, even for the camera lens.
Normally, coins and keys, which often share the same space with the iPhone inside a pants pocket or bag, would not scratch the iPhone 7’s display, but sharper materials could leave abrasions. This was also true when he used keys on the phone’s back plate. However, it was a different matter when the reviewer used a razor blade on it which was deeply scratched with ease. The back plate also showed scratches at level 6.
Next torture test was using a lighter on the screen which took 10 seconds before the display’s pixels began to get hot and turn black. But when he stopped and removed the flame, the screen easily cooled.
Finally, JerryRigEverything tried to bend the phone, and his conclusion is while iPhone 7 would not result in another Bendgate scandal for Apple, the phone is not flexible that bending the device the wrong way would cause its waterproofing adhesive to give way.
However, the reviewer concluded the iPhone 7 is overall a solid phone with a build quality that he appreciated.
Mashable reported that when the iPhone 7 was subjected to the hydraulic press test, it got “smashed into a pancake,” although the reviewer pointed out that “almost nothing can stand the force of a hydraulic press.”