We experienced two great modern American traditions this week. First was the release of the new iPhone, and the second was everyone going online to complain about the new iPhone.
One of the main complaints this time around seems to be regarding the new model's durability. While Apple has been touting the resilience of the new phone, the internet appears to be largely unimpressed.
There are countless YouTube videos of vloggers putting the iPhone 11 through various "drop tests" and traumatic situations. They drop them onto cement off of high ladders, hit them repeatedly with hammers, and launch them earth-ward from drones.
The result (and this probably won't shock you) is that some of the phones sustain substantial damage. This often results in disappointment and condemnation from reviewers.
Which raises a question for me: Is it possible that we might be expecting just a little too much from our cell phones? These things didn't even exist 25 years ago, but we've now reached a point where we're not only dependent on them to function in our everyday lives but also so strong that we can do whatever dumb stuff we want to them without having them break on us.
And who exactly are these videos made for? Who was on the fence about upgrading to the new iPhone but first needs to prove that it can sustain being repeatedly hit by a hammer? What type of person needs to confirm that a phone can handle being dropped on the ground from 300 feet up? Clumsy water tower-climbing enthusiasts?
Your iPhones are never going to be totally unbreakable, people. They are tiny little computers encased in two thin panes of glass. That is our fault, because we're the ones who keep insisting that Apple make our phones smaller, thinner, and sleeker, and they listened. With that elegance comes an element of risk.
But remember: If you don't like it, you can always return to the safe, secure embrace of an old friend.
Yes, the flip phone. Remember this? Sure, it's not fancy, and if you tried to install the Instagram app on this it would probably just melt. But you never had to take this baby to the Apple store to get the screen fixed, did you? You could throw this out of a hot air balloon, into a river, leave it there, go fish it out the next spring, and it would still work! So if phone durability really is that important to you, this is the phone for you.
Well, not this actual one, obviously. This one I have to give back to my dad.