Warranty company dropping iPhones on purpose

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Have you ever dropped your iPhone? A warranty company has been dropping smartphones and iPads on purpose just to see what would happen.

It's almost painful to watch -- an iPhone being dropped again and again and again.

It is all part of a test set up by extended warranty company SquareTrade.

"You can drop this iPhone 10 times and not have it shatter so they are quit robust, they are getting more robust, but they can also break in a single drop," SquareTrade CEO Steve Abernethy said.

Often what happens is the back or front comes apart. Abernethy thinks a warranty is a good idea, but says your first line of defense is a case.

"The simplest way to protect your phone is to get a case," he said. "Because what you saw with this drop was an edge fall would have been protected with a simple edge of rubber. So a $10, $15, $20 case will go a long way to protect your device."

He says the cheaper spongy ones that protect the edge actually work better than some of the more expensive hard cases.

A Samsung did well in the drop test. The plastic case takes a shock better than glass.

iPads are not so easy to protect.

"iPads are extremely delicate because they are bigger and because they are almost as thin as this so the glass shatters quite easily," Abernethy said.

SquareTrade is a San Francisco-based company and sells a two year smartphone warranty for $99 and an iPad warranty for $89.

SquareTrade has posted a series of drop tests on YouTube and they are gathering millions of views.

Get more 7 On Your Side »

smartphones, iPad, iphone, 7 on your side, michael finney

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•