Latest Fall Tests: The iPhone XS Resists Several Falls, But Loses It Simply For Samsung Note 9

The iPhone XS / Max fall tests keep coming and we now have two of the most popular YouTubers: JerryRigEverything and PhoneBuff – videos below.

Zack Nelson, who runs the YouTube channel JerryRigEverything, said his own tests had proven him wrong.

Nelson said he was skeptical about Apple's claims about "the most durable glass ever created on a smartphone" because he was not impressed by his iPhone X fall test last year.

It started with drops at the knees, as if the phone had fallen off a pocket when coming out of a car, and ended with drops in height, like he had slipped during a call or taken a picture. To add a little interest, he has an unprotected phone and another in a case.

After the last fall, he said he was very surprised by the results.

No way, he's still alive! It's royally impressive. Both phones [cased and uncased] are fully functional with zero damage.

The iPhone XS Max is less well behaved in the fall tests performed by David Rahimi, aka PhoneBuff. He pitted Samsung's biggest model against note 9.

He noted that the iPhone glass was stronger than the Samsung device, but the last of the four drop tests left large areas of the touch screen unanswered, rendering it unusable.

His final scores were close: 37 to note 9, 36 to the iPhone XS Max.

We include our usual caveat that there are just too many variables in the drop tests for the results to be very significant – they are at best indicative. An appropriate scientific study would use platforms to ensure identical impacts, and the average results of drops on multiple phones. But we can not deny the pleasure of looking at them; Discover the precedents here and here.

Update: CNET also performed water tests, depositing an iPhone XS in a pool and salt water, as well as orange juice, hot tea, red wine and some beer. Both phones used survived all tests.