Speaker 1: Apple's new iPhones are the strongest yet, but they will
Speaker 1: still shatter on impact.
Speaker 2: What's going on, I'm rich Dmaro. This is rich on Tech.
Speaker 1: Well, every year we can look forward to the new iPhones,
Speaker 1: and then we can look forward to all the torture
Speaker 1: tests that various companies do, and Square Trade is one
Speaker 1: of them. They just did all of their tests with
Speaker 1: their robots and they find that the new iPhones are
Speaker 1: Apple's strongest yet. They're even beer resistant, but they will
Speaker 1: still shatter on impact.
Speaker 2: Let's take a look at some of their findings.
Speaker 1: So for starters, Square Trade says, overall, they did find
Speaker 1: the iPhone tens to be stronger than the iPhone ten
Speaker 1: and the iPhone tens Max even stronger. The company assigns
Speaker 1: a breakability score from zero to one hundred. The higher
Speaker 1: the number, the more at risk the phone is for breakage.
Speaker 1: The iPhone tens Max scored a respectable seventy out of
Speaker 1: one hundred, placing it at a medium risk, while the
Speaker 1: iPhone ten S scored an eighty six out of one hundred,
Speaker 1: which is a high risk.
Speaker 2: This is kind of so prizing because you would think.
Speaker 1: The bigger phone would actually be more at risk for
Speaker 1: breakage because it just has more surface area and more mass.
Speaker 2: But that's not the case.
Speaker 1: The iPhone ten S scored the worst in face down drops,
Speaker 1: back down drops, and bendability, which also surprises me because
Speaker 1: you would think that a small phone wouldn't bend and
Speaker 1: a big phone would. We all remember ben Gate, right.
Speaker 1: Keep in mind, all this research is to place a
Speaker 1: little doubt in your mind and to sell you insurance
Speaker 1: on your phone, which I know a lot of people
Speaker 1: do buy. And I actually do like Square Trade because
Speaker 1: it's a better value than what you can get from
Speaker 1: the carriers. It's about nine dollars a month versus up
Speaker 1: to seventeen dollars a month from the big guys like
Speaker 1: Verizon AT and T T Mobile. Keep in mind you
Speaker 1: will have to pay deductible every time you make a claim,
Speaker 1: which is anywhere from twenty five dollars to one hundred
Speaker 1: and forty nine dollars, and I will compare it against
Speaker 1: what Apple Care offers a little bit later on in
Speaker 1: the podcast. So Square Trade uses robots to test the
Speaker 1: devices in a bunch of different ways. Drops, slides, tumbles, dunks,
Speaker 1: basically all the things you hope to never do with
Speaker 1: your phone, but it happens. My dad's iPhone recently dropped
Speaker 1: out of his pocket. Then he proceeded to run it
Speaker 1: over with his car, and yeah, he needed a new
Speaker 1: one immediately.
Speaker 2: It happens.
Speaker 1: And please back up your devices because you don't want
Speaker 1: to lose your stuff. If you happen to be not
Speaker 1: backing up and you think you'll do it tomorrow, do
Speaker 1: it today. One of the new tests they ran was
Speaker 1: a beer test. Square Trade filled a dunk tank with
Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty eight cans of paps blue ribbon,
Speaker 1: then they dropped the new iPhones inside.
Speaker 2: Now, the new iPhones come with a.
Speaker 1: More durable water resistance rating of IP sixty eight, which
Speaker 1: means they can be in almost five feet of water
Speaker 1: and other liquids for thirty minutes. Square Trade said the
Speaker 1: phones function normally after this test, which is something that
Speaker 1: Apple said they would do. They pointed out during their
Speaker 1: knot on stage that they did test them personally with
Speaker 1: a bunch of different random liquids, including coffee and beer.
Speaker 1: Last year's devices had an IP sixty seven rating, which
Speaker 1: is slightly less durable. Now, if you do get your
Speaker 1: phone wet, Apple does recommend that you dry it out
Speaker 1: for at least five hours. Do not plug it in
Speaker 1: for five hours to charge it after you get it wet.
Speaker 2: You can, however, use wireless charging during this time.
Speaker 1: Now, the all last design of the ten s means
Speaker 1: that the face down drop will probably be your worst enemy.
Speaker 1: On the iPhone Tens, the front screen shattered on the
Speaker 1: first drop. The iPhone Tens Max cracked on the first drop,
Speaker 1: but Square Trade says it was still usable. For this reason,
Speaker 1: I always recommend a case that has a lip over
Speaker 1: the front, basically a case that comes just over the
Speaker 1: edges of the front of the screen, because that will help.
Speaker 2: You in a face down drop.
Speaker 1: Now, on the side drop test, Square Trade says that
Speaker 1: the steel frame did help reduce damage, but on the
Speaker 1: backdrop test, both phones shattered on the first drop, and
Speaker 1: in the case of the iPhone Tens, the back of
Speaker 1: the device actually came apart from the frame.
Speaker 2: And finally, when it comes to repairability, they had a master.
Speaker 1: Technician look at what it takes to pop these phones
Speaker 1: apart and do some repairs. They found that there is
Speaker 1: much more adhesive inside the phones, which helps with the
Speaker 1: water resistant.
Speaker 2: But if you've ever taken a part of gadget.
Speaker 1: It's this little sticky adhesive that can prove kind of tricky.
Speaker 1: The iPhone ten S features a single battery, unlike the
Speaker 1: iPhone ten and the tens Max. Square Trade says both
Speaker 1: phones will cost more to repair than before. Just how
Speaker 1: much they're expecting about three hundred and ninety nine dollars
Speaker 1: to replace the front screen and about five hundred ninety
Speaker 1: nine dollars to replace a shattered backscreen. Again, that's without
Speaker 1: insurance if you paid out a pocket and that can
Speaker 1: definitely vary based on where you bring it. So of
Speaker 1: course this all sounds super scary, and a good case
Speaker 1: can mitigate many of these concerns. I personally like the
Speaker 1: offerings from Tech twenty one. The Spec Presidio Grip is
Speaker 1: my all time favorite case, and the outer box is
Speaker 1: great if you're super clumsy. That's kind of like a
Speaker 1: little tank on your device. But we all know that
Speaker 1: the best case can't protect you from everything, including drops
Speaker 1: that are really bad.
Speaker 2: Theft and loss.
Speaker 1: Now, most people I know with an iPhone do consider
Speaker 1: Apple Care a given. This year they added theft and
Speaker 1: loss into the mix, which is kind of comforting for
Speaker 1: a lot of people.
Speaker 2: If you lose your phone.
Speaker 1: However, you are going to pay for the privilege of
Speaker 1: having this protection. Apple Care Plus for the new iPhones
Speaker 1: costs fifteen dollars a month for twenty four months, or
Speaker 1: three hundred dollars if.
Speaker 2: You out right.
Speaker 1: This gives you two years of protection. Deductibles are twenty
Speaker 1: nine dollars for screen damage, ninety nine dollars for other repairs,
Speaker 1: and two hundred and sixty nine dollars if you lose
Speaker 1: your phone or if it's stolen.
Speaker 2: So do the math.
Speaker 1: You pay three hundred dollars for the Apple Care Plus
Speaker 1: plus two sixty nine. You're talking basically five hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty nine dollars, which is pretty much half the price
Speaker 1: of a new phone if you lose it or if
Speaker 1: it's stolen. Keep in mind, you can always go with
Speaker 1: the standard Apple Care Plus, which is nine to ninety
Speaker 1: nine a month for twenty four months, or if you
Speaker 1: want to pay in full, you can pay two hundred dollars.
Speaker 2: That will not give you the loss and theft protection. Though.
Speaker 1: The big difference is that you can save money monthly
Speaker 1: with Square Trade because remember, it costs about nine dollars
Speaker 1: a month and you're gonna get the same repairs, but
Speaker 1: the big difference is Square Trade does not cover against
Speaker 1: theft or loss, but they will repair or replace your
Speaker 1: phone if you bring it to them in pretty much
Speaker 1: any condition, in any other circumstance. As long as you
Speaker 1: have it, they will replace it or repair it under
Speaker 1: their plan. I've talked to them about this and they
Speaker 1: are pretty good. But like I said, they do not
Speaker 1: do anything when it comes to loss or theft.
Speaker 2: So there you have it.
Speaker 1: Square Trade's latest tests on the brand new iPhone ten
Speaker 1: and ten S Max. You can find pictures of what
Speaker 1: these phones look like after their little torture tests on
Speaker 1: my website. Just go to richon tech dot tv or
Speaker 1: check the show notes.
Speaker 2: I'm Rich Jimiro. Thanks so much for listening. I'll talk
Speaker 2: to you real soon