iPhone 15 Pro Max-Galaxy S23 Ultra drop test battle leaves one thought: "Buy a case"

We've passed along the dismaying video showing how Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything snapped an iPhone 15 Pro Max as easily as one would break off a piece of 'that Kit Kat bar.' But all this proves is that you shouldn't bend that $1,200 phone you just purchased. More realistic are the drop tests since they recreate something that happens to everyone. And video channel PhoneBluff, which is known for its drop tests, recently let gravity do its thing to two top-tier phones, the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

The first drop was one designed to have the phones land on a concrete block with their rear panels from a height of 1 meter (3.3 feet). After 1 drop, the glass back panel of the iPhone 15 Pro Max was left shattered. The Galaxy S23 Ultra also cracked, but the damage was limited to the lower left and upper right corners. Both phones had scuff marks around the camera lenses but most of these marks disappeared after being cleaned with a rag.

The next test was the corner drop and the iPhone 15 Pro Max's two bottom corners bounced off the concrete leaving not much damage to the area, if any. The squared-off corners of the Galaxy S23 Ultra proved to be a more inviting target and the concrete did chip away at one of the phone's corners. However, the continuing pounding that the iPhone 15 Pro Max was taking at this stage started to make the initial damage to the unit's cracked rear panel worse. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is now missing a small piece of glass on the back. Both phones remained functional at this point.

The next drop was a 1 meter (3.3 feet) face-first dive into concrete and both phones ended up with a shattered screen. Despite the cracks on both displays, the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Galaxy S23 Ultra were still fully functional including the latter's under-display fingerprint scanner and the former's Face ID.

The final test saw both phones drop 1.45 meters (4.8 feet) face first, landing on a steel block instead of concrete. The results weren't pretty as the rear glass on the iPhone, even though it wasn't the area of impact, continued to fall apart. Both phones were still working perfectly.

At the end of the day, PhoneBluff gave the Galaxy S23 Ultra a slight edge over the iPhone 15 Pro Max. And while putting a case on your phone is not always something you want to do, you are certainly better off having your expensive handsets wear protection. Personally, I used to loathe putting a case on my new phones and while there was no major trauma that made me reconsider this, I soon realized that putting a case on my phones was a small concession to make to keep the devices running fine and looking good.

Like many, I thought that I was treating my phones with kid gloves. But drops can and do happen. You don't want to cover your phone's natural beauty with a case, I get it. But on the other hand, where's the beauty in a phone with a cracked display and a dented frame?