Skip to main content

iPhone 13 Pro faces hefty hammer in brutal durability test

Another new iPhone means another brutal durability test from device-destroying YouTuber TechRax.

 

The star of this particular video is the iPhone 13 Pro, which, like the iPhone 12 Pro, includes a tough Ceramic Shield display, stainless steel sides, and a glass back.

Recommended Videos

Apple claims its Ceramic Shield display, developed by New York-based Corning, offers an improved drop performance by a factor of four compared to previous versions of the handset.

As TechRax likes to do things a little differently, he decides to forgo the traditional drop test where you release the phone from a particular height to see how it deals with the impact.

Instead, his test involves hitting the display with a 3-pound hammer.

For sure, this is not a real-world scenario, as few people are likely to suddenly drop a hammer onto an iPhone display during the course of a typical day. But it does let you see just how much of a battering the iPhone’s Ceramic Shield display can take before it finally gives in.

TechRax, who according to his YouTube channel has been “smashing technology since 2011,” starts off with relatively gentle single impacts that see the hammer dropped onto the display from a height of several inches. The iPhone 13 Pro’s screen handles each impact comfortably, with no significant marks remaining on the glass.

The test then moves on to repetitive impacts with a little more weight behind them. It’s still the kind of thwack you’d expect your iPhone 13 Pro to be able to handle, although we certainly don’t advise you to give it a go.

With the display still intact, TechRax starts hitting the iPhone 13 Pro with more energy, but Apple’s latest phone takes the beating in its stride. “Wow, super durable, I mean they’re very decent-sized hits at this point,” TechRax comments.

A short while later, however, the phone’s screen finally cracks, and with additional blows, the screen loses power and starts to disintegrate. Not surprisingly, the glass back has also broken, despite not taking any direct hits.

Overall, the handset’s performance is impressive, and should instill confidence in any butter-fingered iPhone 13 owners, or folks with lots of hammers around the house.

Apple is clearly delighted with its partnership with Corning, investing nearly $500 million in the company over the last four years to help it expand its manufacturing capacity in the U.S. and drive research and development for new technologies geared toward durability and long-lasting product life.

For some of the craziest iPhone torture tests we’ve seen over the years, check out this carefully compiled collection on Digital Trends.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
These three iOS 26 beta features are my favorite so far
The Liquid Design lock screen on the iOS 26 developer beta 1 running on the iPhone 16 Pro

For fans of the Apple ecosystem, it’s been an incredible week. Apple’s annual WWDC 2025 keynote revealed a whole new Liquid Glass design that’s unified across all its platforms. Also unified across all platforms is the numbering scheme, with iOS 26 designed to represent the year of release… plus one. 

The new platform doesn’t deliver one of the key things I asked for — multitasking, which is available on iPadOS 26 — but it does bring several new features that make the iPhone far more usable. 

Read more
Will my iPhone get iOS 26? Here’s every supported model
We've got the full list of iOS 26 supported devices - find out if you're getting the new iPhone update
iOS 26 features on a series of iPhone screens

Apple announced iOS 26 at WWDC 2025, and the new iPhone update comes with a fresh new 'Liquid Glass' look and plenty of features - and there are loads of iOS 26 supported devices, which is great news.

And no, you haven't missed a volley of updates since iOS 18 in 2024. Apple has skipped a bunch of numbers, so instead of giving us iOS 19 in 2025, we got iOS 26 alongside iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26 and tvOS 26. In short, Apple's brought its operating system numbering into line. Nice.

Read more
3 big iOS 19 changes that I hope Apple reveals at WWDC 2025
iOS 19 sample logo.

We’re less than two days away from Apple’s big WWDC 2025 keynote, where the company will reveal new versions of each of its software platforms. One of the biggest changes this year is the expected shift from iOS 19 to iOS 26, with new versions of macOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS also set to follow suit. We're also expecting to see the evolution of Apple Health, including a new AI doctor and Health subscription.

iOS 26, if it is to be named that, is expected to introduce one of the biggest evolutions in design for Apple software since the first iPhone was launched. Inspired by visionOS and the Apple Vision Pro, it’s expected to be a monumental redesign, but I hope that Apple also takes the time to make a few improvements.

Read more