ADcase is a high-tech mobile airbag for your smartphone that falls

Image: Frenzel + Mayer Solutions

We've all been there: a little fumble, and a few seconds later your $ 500 smartphone (or more!) Crushes on the floor.

A good case and a screen protector could protect you from the worst of damage, but these things can only do so much. It is there that intervenes this inventive "mobile airbag".

Designed by Philip Frenzel, a German engineering student, this specialized case deploys spider-like elastic legs when it begins to fall. The legs seem to soften the impact of a fall more than your average case, while making it less likely that the more fragile pieces of your smartphone will come in contact with a hard surface (ht t The Verge).

Frenzel's design guaranteed him a 2018 Award from the German Mechatronics Society, as detailed here (in German).

He pursued the idea because of his personal experience with a broken phone. One day, Frenzel 's iPhone slipped out of his jacket pocket and crashed onto the floor. The screen is broken and the phone has never worked properly even after the screen has been repaired.

So it's set to design something that could better protect a falling phone than your typical wrap-around casing. After a few experiments, Frenzel came across the idea of ​​a specialized housing equipped with sensors capable of detecting when a phone was in free fall and deploying a set of retractable legs linked by metal springs into reply.

This "ADcase" – "AD" means "active depreciation" – was inventive enough to get its price Frenzel. Then, he plans to turn his idea into a business when he brings his creation – which is now patented – to Kickstarter. It is not clear what the price will be, but we expect the campaign to be launched in July.

There is already an official ADcase website, which suggests that the initial offer will be limited to newer iPhone models. 6 Plus and all news (including the iPhone X).