Samsung Galaxy S10+ beaten by iPhone XS Max in PhoneBuff's drop test; barely scrapes into top 10 rankings

Corning Gorilla Glass 6 was introduced in the middle of last year, and it was billed as being much more resistant to drop damage than Gorilla Glass 5. But it seems whatever glass Corning is producing in collaboration with Apple for its iPhone lineup is even more durable. In a series of drop tests carried out in a PhoneBuff video, the iPhone XS Max managed to beat the Samsung Galaxy S10+ by 36 points to 34.

In the first round, the back glass is tested. A professional drop testing machine is used to keep proceedings fair, and the iPhone XS Max escapes with some scratches. But the S10+’s back is shattered and covered in spider web cracks. In the next round, the corner drop, both smartphones seem to fare well. Things are different in the third round, which is the face drop. The S10+ is damaged so badly that its ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner ceases to function. However, Samsung’s smartphone does well in the “bonus” round of 10 further drops.

PhoneBuff has conveniently created a ranking of the best-performing smartphones in the drop test, and the Samsung Galaxy S10+ just managed to make it to #10. The iPhone XS Max is in eighth position, while the ranking is headed by another Apple product, the iPhone 8. Tellingly, a number of smartphones with Corning Gorilla Glass 5, such as the LG V30 and the Galaxy S9+, fared better in the drop tests than the S10+.