Apple’s latest and greatest iPhones are out in the world, which means they’ve been subjected to the very worst the internet has to offer. That said, they’ve held up pretty well, especially the iPhone Air and the scratch-resistant new Ceramic Shield 2 screens.
The first and most exciting tests are Jerry Rig Everything’s bend and scratch tests. He was unable to bend the iPhone Air with his hands and had to apply 215 pounds of pressure with a jack to break it. Even then, the screen stayed on.
The screens across all the iPhones also stood up to 30 seconds of heat from a lighter without flinching, which really surprised me. In terms of scratch resistance, the screens fare better than the phones’ backs. That said, if you like your tech to show some wear and tear like I do, the Pro models are really appealing. However, if you saw reports of the new phones being really scratch-prone, watch the video below since the host Zach does a lot to answer all the questions you might have about how durable the new phones really are.
Moving on to the phones’ internals, the Air and Pro models have received a few teardowns showcasing their brains and batteries. To me, the Air is the most impressive since the engineering inside the phone is incredible. Everything is packed into the phone extremely tightly, and it looks crazy. That said, since there are fewer parts, it’s not as hard to disassemble as it might seem.
When it comes to the iPhone 17 Pro series, iFixit hasn’t taken it apart yet, but Canadian teardown YouTuber, iPhone Repair Guru, has taken it apart. He found it to be a little less repairable than in the past since it has so many screws. That said, he was really happy with the new back glass panel, since he theorizes that it should be a lot easier to fix than the full back glass on the older phones.
Overall, the phones seem to hold up really well to most durability tests compared to previous models. And, if you’re worried about how breakable the iPhone Air is, I think the first video in this list will do a lot to ease your mind. If you want to find out a bit more about the phones, check out our full reviews – iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro.
