"Did It Really Need to Go That Far?"... iPhone Dropped from 30,000 Meters Sets a World Record, Not a Crack in Sight

Taiwanese Smartphone Case Maker Demonstrates Durability with Successful Test

An experiment involving the dropping of an iPhone from over 30,000 meters near the edge of space and confirming its normal operation has been recognized by Guinness World Records.

An experiment that involved dropping a case-covered iPhone 17 Pro from approximately 30,000 meters altitude and confirming its normal operation has become a hot topic. Guinness World Records

According to the recent Guinness World Records (GWR), Taiwanese smartphone case manufacturer Rhinoshield, in collaboration with the aerospace company Sent Into Space, conducted a phone drop experiment over the Esrange area in the northern Arctic region of Sweden to test the durability of their product. The company originally planned to drop devices 50 times from a height of 15 meters, but changed course to attempt an official world record for the highest drop ever performed.

Eric Wang, CEO of Rhinoshield, explained, "We wanted to send a phone into space and drop it. Our goal was to demonstrate standards beyond military grade—in fact, to prove it was ‘space grade.’" Dr. Kiris Rose, project lead at Sent Into Space, added, "No one knew whether any device could survive this test. Sudden changes alone could shatter the glass, so this was far harsher than any ground-based trials."

For the experiment, iPhone 17 Pro devices fitted with the AirX case were loaded onto a mother ship device suspended from a high-altitude stratospheric balloon filled with helium. The case is made from a recyclable single material and features a structure lined internally with tightly-packed air chambers that act as airbags.

The research team dropped the phones from an altitude of 30,607 meters. This is more than three times the cruising altitude (9,000 meters) of a typical commercial airliner. Because the drop site in northern Sweden has almost no road network, a helicopter was needed to recover the dropped phones. Dr. Rose recalled, "The phone needed to land on solid ground, not in water, to qualify for a Guinness record. Because of drastically shifting air pressure and the extreme environment, we were very worried whether the GPS signal would be traceable." Fortunately, the search team was able to track the transmitted signal for about 3 kilometers and locate the phones that had landed on rough terrain.

The dropped iPhone showed no surface cracks and functioned perfectly, with power, touch screen, camera, and call functions all working as normal.

After reviewing data from the mother ship’s flight computer and nine satellite tracking records, as well as verifying the drop altitude and the device's full functionality, Guinness World Records issued its official certificate.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.