iPhone 4 still works after 13,500-foot fall

By Mike Dunn July 18, 2011

While the iPhone 4’s glass screen and back look amazing, they have been notoriously fragile. Jarrod McKinney’s iPhone 4 already had it cracked back when it was dropped by his two-year-old, so he was pretty surprised to see it survive a drop from 13,500 feet. McKinney told CNN that the phone fell out of pocket while he was skydiving in Minnesota. Once McKinney landed he used a GPS app to locate where his phone had landed. The phone crashed into the top of a two-story building about a half mile from where McKinney landed.

Once the phone was in his possession, one of McKinney’s friends called the phone, and they were all shocked to see that the phone was receiving the call. The phone wasn’t useable due to the shattered screen, but the phone was vibrating while the phone was ringing.

We do not expect most cell phones to survive a fall from that height, so it is even more impressive that the phone in question is an iPhone 4. The phone has been plagued by a number of problems since it was first announced. Most notably would have to be the antenna issue, where calls would be dropped depending on how a user held the phone. The iPhone 4 also had issues with some cases causing the phone’s glass to crack, which sort of defeats the purpose of a phone case.

We are curious about how exactly the phone hit the building; in the picture provided by McKinney you can only see the destroyed back glass. There are no signs of dents or bends in the frame of the phone so it appears that the phone might have landed flat on either the front or back.

Image: CNN

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