These cases survived a 20ft drop and a 2lb pressure punch!
- jan
- 24
Can your case do that?
Every year, CES has a Breaking Point demo where various case makers show off their impact resistant cases. It's a fun affair and gives case makers a chance to prove their mettle. This year, protecting the iPhone XR, there were nine cases dropped from six, 10, and 20 feet, plus each one was punched with a two-pound steel ball on a hard tile surface. It's pretty brutal.
The cases involved are from Speigen, PureGear, Griffin, OWC, Skech, Caseology, Gearlock, iBlason, Zizo, Pelican, and Catalyst.
The intense part of the testing was done when CNET dropped a 2lb ball bearing from four feet off the ground, which is similar to the level of impact a phone would receive from dropping it more than 20 feet. The ball and pressure is strong enough that it cracked the tile used in the demonstration.
What I found interesting is that Catalyst's Impact Case was the only one in the lineup to survive the ball drop that didn't have a screen protector. The other survivors had screen protectors to help boost their success rate.
When the ball drops on the Impact Case protected iPhone from four feet, you're SURE it's going to break, but it didn't! Maybe that was just luck, or maybe that open-faced, ultra-slim Impact Case has got some special stuff happening behind the scenes.
Zizo, Gearlock, Griffin, Caseology, and OWC also made it through the 4-foot ball-bearing drop (though they had screen protectors). Zizo won CNET's award in the end because it was the only phone that wasn't completely demolished after having that 2lb ball dropped on it from 20 feet in the air (which is equal to dropping it from more than 100 feet).
Take a look at the video of Catalyst Impact Case being put through its paces at CNET's Breaking Point demo at CES 2019.