iPhone 12 drop and scratch test By CNET

Oh, man every year apple says its new iPhone has the strongest glass ever and this year is no exception, but this is no ordinary glass apple calls it a ceramic shield, and it's supposed to make the screen of the new iPhone 12 four times tougher than its predecessor, the iPhone 11 and tougher than any other smartphone. We're going to put it to the test now, because this is a completely new cover material both for the iPhone and for smartphones in general. We're dividing up this test into two parts. First up the scratch test, which is well what I'm set up for over here, just to kind of see how it handles every day, wear and tear. But once you introduce a scratch, the glass is compromised and that's where Chris comes in that's right. Vanessa.

I got my own iPhone 12 right here. It's in the lovely green color, we're going to drop it on the ground a few times and see what happens now before I begin the scratch test. Let me just point out one thing: the ceramic shield is only on the front of the phone. The back of this phone is actually last year's glass, the same one that was on the iPhone 11. So just keep that in mind as we go forward with our test, I'm going to start with the purse or pocket test to kind of mimic what happens in our person, pockets, putting in some keys a pen and these coins, and I'm going to shake it for about.

Let's see 30 seconds, I hope you're not going to be doing this yourself, but it's supposed to just mimic the everyday wear and tear over the course of a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months. So, let's see how we're doing almost there just a couple more seconds, I'm shaking this pretty vigorously. So I don't know if this is going to cause any damage, all right, 30 seconds that does it. Let's see how it did. Oh, all right! Well, I'm going to take this cloth, which is actually a baby bib and clean up the debris a little, because it's tough to know whether it's just debris from what was inside the purse and or an actual scratch.

I mean the fact that I'm having such a hard time finding any kind of damage on this phone is a very good sign. So, as I said, no obvious scratching both the front and the back performed really well. So that's probably the more real world scenario of all these now we're going to raise the stakes- and I have a piece of tile over here, and I'm going to slide this phone back and forth to mimic what happens if you slide it across the kitchen table or any kind of rougher surface, but I'm going to limit myself to 10 times, because sometimes when I talk, I forget how long I've been going, and I went too far with the note 20 ultra. So let's start one two, three, four: five: six, seven, eight nine ten, I'm going to do the same on the back of this phone one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine ten see how it did well, Chris uh again, I'm having some hard time finding any damage in terms of scratching on this phone that sounded pretty rough yeah. It did, and you know what the only thing that it did, that I'm seeing at least right now is that the tiny little of metal that surrounds one of the lenses has been shaved off a little, but I'm not sure if that's just the coating like a color coding or what it is, I don't think it would affect the lens itself.

The camera bump is probably protecting the back a little. Isn't it true? The camera bump is protecting the back upon closer inspection. I did find a little tiny hair of a scratch uh on top of the Apple logo. The only reason I can see it is that it's so reflective it looks almost like a mirror and a little a little of a scratch over here on the bottom of the phone. It's going to be hard to show you, so hopefully you can see it.

What about on the front side? The front of this phone looks pristine, so that's interesting, different type of glass, different performance for scratch- resistance, at least it looks like the ceramic shield- is protecting it. I swear I have inspected this phone and the only damage that I could find are two tiny hairlines of scratches on the back and the scuffing on the frame surrounding one of the lenses. That's about it. I have a feeling. This next test might show us some different results.

I have a sheet of sandpaper now, hopefully, none of you are gonna, be rubbing it against sandpaper, but it's meant to mimic what happens when it falls on cement or any other extremely rough surface. This is 80 grit. Sandpaper corny uses a lesser version of this for some of their tests on the glass, and I'm going to slide it again 10 times on both sides, one two, three four: five: six, seven, eight nine ten on to the other side, one two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine ten. This is like nails on a chalkboard. Oh my gosh.

Let's assess the damage yeah there's damage. Let's see how much of this damage is part of the debris and how much it's actually scratching it just hurts so much just to even hear that sound, it's so bad all right! This is the back of the phone, so that glass, and it does have quite a bit of damage, but I think, because of the way it's angled does protect it a little and the cameras survived without even a scratch, just that same little, scuffing of the frame of one of the lenses there. You can see some scratches and here on the front, it does look like the front, has more scratching or more visible scratching, so I rubbed it on sandpaper, and it scratched big surprise right, but it is important to know the way that they scratched is very, very similar, even though they are different materials they look about as deep, and they scratch in the same way. So what are your takeaways here? Vanessa? Well, pretty much, don't slide it across your driveway, that's for sure, but your everyday wear and tear pockets even bathroom floors. This will hold up both on the front and the back of the phone.

It kind of just expect it to perform the same as glass in terms of scratch. Resistance- and it's pretty good for that matter, and now it's Chris's turn with drop test. That's right, like we usually do in these drop tests. We're gonna start out at pocket height, that's about three feet off the ground, I'll drop it on the front. Take a look, we'll drop it on the back, take a peek if it's not totally shattered by then we'll go up to about six feet, drop it on the front and the back.

If it's still hanging in there at that point, then we'll reassess and see where to go. Next now before you drop that phone, let me just say one more thing about the design and because the glass is flush with the side of the phone this time around, instead of kind of curving upward, as in previous models, that in and of itself, is going to make it twice as tough, even though it does have that same glass as the iPhone 11 on the back of the phone. So again, just keep that in mind as we go forward now. Take it away Chris. Okay, I'm all set I'm ready for the first drop hip height face down.

You want to count me in Vanessa all right. Let's do this in three two one drop that didn't sound too bad. Let's take a look from three feet down. I'd say it actually doesn't. Look too bad, there's a little of a scrape right here on this corner on the metal band, not on the glass there's another little dent right up here at the top.

As far as the glass goes, it looks pretty clean yeah I mean from where I'm standing Chris, it's hard to notice. Any kind of damage is. I'm curious, though, is that little dent on the side. Does it permeate into the glass or is it just on the aluminum frame? No, it's just on the aluminum right here, there's! No, it doesn't travel over into the glass or anything same up here at the top. It's just it's purely cosmetic on the metal, not on the glass.

All in all I'd say it's looking pretty good, totally still usable, but now, let's drop it on the back and see what happens here. We go again from pocket height three feet. Count me down in three two one drop centered a little harder than the front side, all right, you ready for this, oh man. So if you look here at the bottom, half we've got a big arcing crack some little mini ones at the bottom. It's a little rough to the touch, at least on the edge here across here.

It feels pretty smooth, ah that one's on the surface, I don't see anything on the camera bump, there's a little scuff on the metal, but this didn't appear to take any beating. All the damage is down here. On the bottom half I mean, I guess it would make sense that the ceramic shield is stronger than the back from what we know, but even though the phone is broken at this point, I'm still curious to see what happens with the screen and that ceramic shield Chris yeah. I agree. I think we should definitely drop it from six feet on the front, and we'll see what happens at that point ready for that count me down.

Let's do this in three two one drop here: it is the front from six feet, gotta say it's looking pretty good, no major cracks or shatters along the front. Only thing I see is this little spot on the top corner. Now, if I brush this, that's just the aluminum that sort of came across the top of the glass. The glass itself underneath is just fine. Is there any scratching to the glass at all? At this point, Chris, I don't see any scratches at all it uh.

It looks pretty much pristine. It's looking like the screen on your phone is gonna, come out a lot better looking than mine, even though you dropped it on actual concrete true, but I only dropped it once not like. I was using it as a hockey puck yeah. I have to say I'm pretty impressed with this glass so far I say we just disqualify the back side of the phone at this point and keep going with the front, because the screen is what's interesting to me at least what do you say? I agree: let's go to nine feet. Alright, Chris is on the ladder.

Let's do these nine feet in three two one drop: oh, that wasn't exactly flat. You know what it landed in the exact same spot and nothing really happened. Let me try that one more time and see if I can get it flatter all right. One more time here we go three two one, oh got a tumble on that one still looking good one more time. Oh my gosh, twice from nine feet, nothing! Let me try and get this nice and flat.

Three, two one, I'm telling you this thing is doing great. Oh my gosh, nothing seriously! I dropped it three times from about nine feet, and this front screen looks just as good as it did. When it came out of the box. The back hasn't even changed that much this metal frame is really the worse for wear. After all, these drops, in fact, I still can't see any cracks on this front.

One at all. That's really impressive. Chris I mean, even though it didn't fall flat. It still fell three different times from nine feet, and hopefully none of you are going to be doing that intentionally. So I'd say it's a pass in my book.

If not a complete win, yeah I'd have to agree after these first cracks. On the back from just three feet, I was a little skeptical how this was going to survive as we got higher, but sure enough. That was the only real damage we saw besides just that scuffing, so any final thoughts' Vanessa. So it's obviously not indestructible. We didn't expect it to be indestructible, but it has gone far and above my expectations.

Now, obviously, you have to be careful with the back, because it doesn't have that ceramic shield, so you're probably still going to need a case on it, but that ceramic shield did hold up to the claim, at least in our test. Obviously your mileage can vary. These are not scientific tests. Chris, would you venture? Would you go case lift this year? You know, I probably wouldn't feel too bad about trying to do this without a case. That being said, the new mag safe cases that just stick right on the back with the magnet are kind of cool plus they have them that are clear, so you're not going to cover up whatever color you end up buying.

Well, that's been our scratch and drop test of the iPhone 12. Now let us know in the comments section whether you would feel confident enough to use this phone without a case. I'm curious to know also make sure to check out our other drop and durability test on CNET and keep coming back, because we're going to continue running some other tests on the iPhone 12. See you next time so long.

Source : CNET