Apple's iPhone Survives A 16,000-feet Drop And Lives To Tell The Tale

Apple Inc.'s AAPL iPhone survived a massive 16,000-feet drop from an aircraft, ironically when it was in airplane mode. If you ever fear skydiving, you now have an iPhone to draw inspiration from.

What Happened: It's not just the 171 passengers and six crew members aboard Alaska Air Group, Inc.'s ALK Flight 1282 who experienced a harrowing 15-minute nightmare – an iPhone actually fell out of the aircraft.

All the passengers and crew members and the iPhone are safe. It actually managed to remain intact despite dropping out of the sky.

Seanathan Bates reported that they found an iPhone on the side of a road. The iPhone even had a baggage receipt for the same Alaska Airlines flight open, like cherry on top.

See Also: Could This Be First Glimpse Of Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro And iPhone 16 Pro Max? What A Design Leak Reveals

"Found an iPhone on the side of the road… Still in airplane mode with half a battery and open to a baggage claim for #AlaskaAirlines ASA1282 Survived a 16,000-foot drop perfectly intact!" Bates said on X.

Found an iPhone on the side of the road… Still in airplane mode with half a battery and open to a baggage claim for #AlaskaAirlines ASA1282 Survived a 16,000 foot drop perfectly in tact!

When I called it in, Zoe at @NTSB said it was the SECOND phone to be found. No door yet😅 pic.twitter.com/CObMikpuFd

— Seanathan Bates (@SeanSafyre) January 7, 2024

The photos show officials of the National Transportation Safety Board inspecting the area, and a staff member reportedly told Bates that this was the second report of an iPhone found after the Alaska Airlines incident.

The iPhone in question appears to be either an iPhone 14 Pro or an iPhone 15 series model, with what looks like a hard case and screen guard protecting it. Perhaps it's a good idea to use iPhones with a case?

Why It Matters: Apple's iPhones have survived some freak accidents, underlining their durability.

For instance, an iPhone 12 survived a three-month submersion in a North California river. A diver stumbled upon an algae-covered iPhone 12 in December 2023 and going by the last video on the device; they discovered that the device had been submerged for three months.

Apple has also been improving the durability of its iPhones – the iPhone 15 Pro uses Grade 5 titanium alloy, which was also used on NASA's Mars rover Perseverance.

Perhaps the iPhone 15 Pro's body can survive a Mars trip? While we don't know for sure, we now know that some lucky iPhones can survive 16,000-foot drops.

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