iPhone SE (2020) Passes Durability Test on Video With Flying Colours, Survives Bends, Scratches, and Heat

Zack Nelson, or as he's more popularly known as the one who loves destroying gadgets on his YouTube channel, JerryRigEverything, has managed to put the iPhone SE (2020) through his durability test and the results will surprise you. For a starting price of $399 (roughly Rs. 30,400), the new iPhone SE (2020) turns out to be surprisingly durable as it survived his scratch, flame, and bend tests and managed to retain its structural integrity even after the whole ordeal. This also goes to show that Apple hasn't skimped on build quality and the type of materials used to make the new iPhone SE (2020), which is always a good thing.

After a quick unboxing of the iPhone SE (2020), Nelson begins with the scratch test, which is tested on the Mohs scale. Glass usually tends to scratch at level 5 onwards and sure enough, we begin to see scratches appearing at level 6, with deeper grooves at level 7. This is not bad, considering the recent OnePlus 8 Pro showed similar resilience in Nelson's test. He even tried scratching the home button with a razor blade but didn't manage to make any permanent marks, which is good. The entire body of the iPhone SE (2020) is made from aluminium, including the buttons and the silent toggle switch.

Nelson then tries to make some dents on the camera lens, which Apple claims, is sapphire glass. However, it turns out that it's not pure sapphire glass since groves begin appearing at level 6, when ideally it should only happen at around level 9. Nelson also mentions a cracked glass replacement can be quite expensive. He states that a broken glass panel on the iPhone SE (2020) would cost about $269 (roughly Rs. 20,500), while the screen is a bit more reasonable at a $129 (roughly Rs. 9,800).

Next, we jump to the flame test, where Nelson holds a flame from a lighter near the display till that area goes black. Since this is an LCD panel, a black patch appears after 16 seconds of constant heat from the flame but the pixels come back to life in some time, as the spot cools down. Finally, in the bend test, Nelson tries to snap the phone in two by bending it, with the screen facing up and then the other way around. But even after multiple tries, we see that the iPhone SE (2020) holds its structure extremely well, with only some mild warping. Even after all this, the phone is complete functional and aluminium frame doesn't buckle even under, quite literal, pressure.

Is iPhone SE the ultimate 'affordable' iPhone for India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.