iPhone 15 durability tested: Does Aluminum fare better than Titanium?

Apple’s latest iPhone 15 series has been the hot topic of discussion this week. While the shift to USB-C has many of us very excited about the iPhone, the lineup has been running into some controversy. The iPhone 15 Pro series has been at the center of various heat-related complaints, and the larger, Titanium-toting iPhone 15 Pro Max also failed YouTuber Zac’s durability test. Now, Zac is back with his durability tests of the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus, and spoiler alert: they survive without damage.

YouTuber Zac from JerryRigEverything performed his litany of durability tests on the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus.

Zac’s tests include a scratchability test for the display. Apple uses “Ceramic Shield” branding for the protective glass layer on top of the iPhone 15’s display. As it turns out, Apple’s Ceramic Shield does indeed offer better scratch resistance than similar protective layers that we see on top Android flagships.

The iPhone 15 also survives through the flame test (though we wonder about the real-life utility of a flame test). Scratching the metal reveals the shiny aluminum frame, so there are no surprises there, too.

We held our breaths when Zac started applying pressure in the middle to bend the iPhone 15. But surprisingly, even after a few hard flexes, the phone remained unscathed, with no cracks, shatters, or bends.

The same bend test was repeated with the larger iPhone 15 Plus, which also survived the bend test. This is surprising since the equivalent iPhone 15 Pro Max’s back glass shattered prematurely a few seconds into the bend test.

The final tally for the new iPhone 15 series is thus three phones out of four survive the bend test, and only the most expensive iPhone ever fails it.