It's no surprise that the new Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ won't escape unscathed if you drop them while taking a selfie or, worse, on the toilet. To find out just how much damage Samsung's new flagship smartphones will sustain, extended warranty provider Square Trade put them to the test.
The basic drop test, with the phones released face-down from a height of six feet onto a sidewalk, resulted in numerous cracks along the edges as well as loose glass. The same test with the phones released face-up, so their backs impacted the sidewalk first, produced more substantial cracks that extended across the phone like a spiderweb.
Next up was a tumble test, with the phones placed in a rotating wooden box. In the video of the test results, the Galaxy S8 appeared to fare significantly worse than its larger cousin, with an exposed front camera and spiderweb cracks that covered the back of the phone. The glass on both models was loosened by the tumble.
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The final test was designed to find out what would happen when what used to be every smartphone owner's worst nightmare comes true: liquid immersion. The S8 and S8+ are waterproof, however, and the only thing Square Trade noticed after 30 minutes of immersion in five feet of water was some audio distortion, presumably from droplets that hadn't flowed away from the speaker grills.
Samsung claims that the components used in the S8 are 40 percent more durable than those in the S7. Still, the all-glass body is inherently more breakable than a metal one, even though it's made of the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 5, which Corning calls "selfie-proof." It's also likely to be more expensive to repair if you do drop it. (For more, check out This Inside Look at Samsung's Galaxy S8 Testing Facility.)
So the upshot of the Square Trade tests seem to be that if you're prone to dropping your Samsung Galaxy S8, you should try to spend as much time around water as possible. Failing that, you'll want to get a sturdy case.
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