Sam Kohl of AppleTrack travelled to Australia to conduct the first iPhone 15 drop testing that are now available online. According to his video, the remarkably durable iPhone 14 Pro design outperforms the new rounded titanium edges in drop tests.

The iPhone 15 Pro’s rounder titanium sides appeared to cause the impact to extend into the front and rear glass, causing spiderwebbing cracks, as opposed to the flat steel band on the 14 which would absorb much of the force.

If you immediately compare the stainless steel band of the 14 Pro to the titanium edges, the stainless steel band appears to be more susceptible to dents and scratches. But the phone does better overall because of its structural integrity.

Another element, in addition to the change from a straight to a somewhat rounded edge, is that the qualities of stainless steel as a material allow it to frequently function as a shock absorber by flexing under pressure. Due of titanium’s relative rigidity, any impact must be diffused across several parts of the apparatus

While the 14 Pro withstood the drop test in nearly flawless condition until the very end, the 15 Pro’s glass started to break approximately midway through, with spiderweb cracks first emerging in the corners. The rear and front glass of the 15 Pro were damaged to varying degrees by further drops. Eventually, the back camera module completely separated from the chassis and the bottom half of the iPhone 15 Pro’s display failed completely (displaying just white pixels).

The iPhone 15 Pro held up nicely despite possibly not being as resistant to cracks as the 14 Pro. The Ceramic Shield front glass cover meant that it took even longer for the display glass to be clearly cracked after several drops onto concrete.

Always keep in mind that drop tests are notoriously unscientific, and that in order to gain an accurate sense of how the iPhone performs, several different users would need to repeat the tests.