The shipments of iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus shipments have started in the last week. Both the smartphones carry plenty of improved features compared to last year’s iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. For instance, instead of the metal unibody design, the iPhone 8 duo have metal and glass combination chassis. JerryRigEverything has carried out couple of tests on the iPhone 8 to evaluate its durability.

iPhone 8 Durability Test

According to Apple, the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus have the most durable glass on a smartphone. During the scratch test, the iPhone 8’s screen developed deeper grooves on level 7 of Mohs Hardness Scale. This shows that the durability of the iPhone 8’s frontal glass is on par with other flagships like Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S8 and iPhone 7. However, it is recommended to use a screen guard to protect the front glass from micro-abrasions.

The Home button that houses the Touch ID sensor and the 7-megapixel selfie camera are placed under the front glass. Hence, they are unlikely to get scratched easily. The rear glass is also scratch-resistant. Since the Apple logo and iPhone text are placed under the rear glass, they won’t wear away with use.

The dual-tone LED flash sits under the rear glass and there is a metallic covering to protect the microphone that sits next to camera flash. When a razor that has a scratch level of 5 on Mohs scale is used on the sapphire glass of the rear camera, there are no scratches. This shows that the durability of the camera lens is same as regular glass. Sapphire glass usually develop scratches on level 8 or 9 of Mohs scale. However, the sapphire glass of the rear camera developed visible marks at level 6 and level 7 and deeper grooves at level 8.

It appears that the Cupertino company is using its proprietary version of sapphire, claims Zack Nelson from JerryRigEverything. According to Zack, Apple has used aluminum oxide which is one of the ingredients of sapphire, for the camera lens. Mohs Hardness Scale and an electron microscope show that Apple has used a lower grade material of sapphire glass to protect the camera lens. Sapphire in its purest form can be found on premium watches from Tissot and on the entire display of the HTC U Ultra sapphire edition.

There is a metal ring surrounding the camera lens. However, the lens protrudes out farther than the metal ring which means it can get scratched in due course of time if the phone is placed on its on its back on a flat surface. The sides of the iPhone 8 along with buttons are made of metal.

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When the screen is treated with extreme heat for 10 seconds, the affected area goes black. However, once the affected pixels cool down, the screen becomes normal. The bend test of the iPhone 8 shows that it does not flex even with lot of pressure. At the end of the video, Zack says that the iPhone 8 has a thin strip of plastic between the rear glass and metallic frame which protects the glass during drops. Apple has also used a plastic cushion around the glass to protect that display of iPhone 8.

iPhone 8 Teardown

The above video is an iPhone 8 teardown video from IFixit. It reveals that replacing the display and battery of the smartphone is not difficult. iFixit has awarded a repairability score of 6 out of 10 to the iPhone 8 which means it is fairly easy to repair it.

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