How do you prove a product and in this instance, an iPhone 6 case, is a tough nut to crack? By doing a drop test, of course, but if you are going to prove the point it has to be higher than a man’s height or even a two storey building. In the case of tough smartphone case maker, Urban Armor Gear, it took the meaning of drop test to the extreme, by sending an iPhone 6 wrapped in a composite case, sent it into the space and back. The feat was accomplished last November when UAG sent an iPhone 6 wearing a white composite case into the lower space. The ascent took a total of three hour forty minute, bringing the phone to an astounding of 101,000 feet (about 30 km) where the phone was subjected to temperatures as cold as minus 79 degree Fahrenheit (-61 Celsius) and bombarded by wind speed as strong as 70 mph (112 kmh).
On its way down, the device suffered from a dizzying 150 RPM rotation speed as the parachute deployed and the flight rig struggled to stabilize. Upon landing the flight rig broke apart, flinging the iPhone to the ground. Naturally, the phone escaped unscathed and was still full functional – thanks to the super tough case composed of hard armor shell and soft rubber core and bumpers. Looks like UAG isn’t content with just meeting military drop-test standards and the fact that they made the space-to-earth drop test goes to show how confident they are with the product. Though the accessories maker proved their point, it doesn’t mean you should ever subject your device to such traumatic experience.
Granted that the case indeed protected the phone well enough and the device turns out to be functional, but still, a shock is a shock and there is not guarantee that extreme trauma will not break anything you can’t see, or result in accelerated wear of the innards. In any case, a feat is a feat. So astronauts, you know what case to clad you iPhone in when in space, don’t you? Scroll down to catch the feat in action in the embedded video below.
