If there is a development rising within the early days of 2025, it is that the greatest smartphones have gotten extra sturdy — and much more sturdy. In only a few quick weeks, I’ve seen telephones put in dishwashers, used as slicing boards, and run over by shifting autos. That is solely the tip of the iceberg.
Honor despatched me to its Magic 7 sequence launch occasion in Slovenia this week, and the corporate inspired myself and different reviewers in attendance to push the Magic 7 Professional to its limits. That comes shortly after OnePlus invited my colleague Nicholas Sutrich to watch the OnePlus 13 survive a dishwasher run, too.
You may be questioning what all that is about, and whether or not it’s best to care — after a couple of days of placing the Honor Magic 7 Professional to the take a look at firsthand, I feel I do know the reply.
The crave for excessive sturdiness safety for smartphones began a very long time in the past, when telephones first started supporting IP rankings in opposition to mud and water ingress. That is a elaborate manner of claiming that cellphone manufacturers wished to maintain mud and liquids from getting inside smartphones. Premium supplies, like titanium, stainless-steel, and hardened glass helped fortify telephones in opposition to laborious drops and scuffs.
When you’ve ever dropped a cellphone on the seashore or within the pool, you will perceive why. However the first Android cellphone to function a point of water resistance was the Motorola Defy about 15 years in the past, so why is that this excessive sturdiness push occurring now?
The reality is that new processes and improvements have enabled telephones, such because the OnePlus 13, Motorola Moto G Energy or Honor Magic 7 Professional, to resist conditions that had been as soon as inconceivable. For starters, the primary wave of IP69-certified smartphones are hitting world markets. Beforehand, IP68 was understood to be the best degree of safety in opposition to mud and water ingress. That is modified with the appearance of IP69, which represents an additional diploma of safety in opposition to excessive strain, temperature, and steam.
In essence, gadgets with IP68/IP69 rankings can survive even the hardest challenges, like being positioned within the dishwasher. The photographs above present Honor placing the Magic 7 Professional in a countertop dishwasher with the show nonetheless working, and it is one thing that felt surreal in individual.
That wasn’t all. Honor touted the Magic 7 Lite’s “Anti-Drop Show,” which it says is made out of ultra-tempered glass. To place it to the take a look at, the model put the cellphone beneath the knife, utilizing it as a slicing board to cut up a banana. They supplied to let me strive it for myself, and I winced on the concept of purposefully placing a knife in opposition to a cellphone display screen — as a tech journalist, it seems like that ought to be in opposition to my faith.
However that almost sums up how assured firms are getting about their telephones’ sturdiness. It is simple to make claims on spec sheets and press releases. It is much more brazen to conduct real-world assessments in entrance of reporters, the place there’s at all times an opportunity of catastrophe, just like the notorious Tesla Cybertruck reveal.
Issues as soon as once more took a borderline insane flip when Honor let the Magic 7 Lite get run over by an ATV, after which get casually dropped off an ATV driving at pace on a rocky filth highway.
It is completely spectacular that the Honor Magic 7 Lite, a cellphone that prices beneath €400 in Europe, can survive these sorts of assessments. It is also fairly good that the Motorola Moto G Energy, quickly to be out there for beneath $300 within the U.S., helps IP68/IP69 sturdiness rankings. However how a lot ought to this matter to a standard individual such as you and me, who makes use of their cellphone for regular duties?
I feel that relies upon. After I noticed what the Magic 7 Professional and Lite may do, I additionally turned a bit of brazen whereas testing out my loaner system. Whereas utilizing the cellphone caseless, I recorded movies of myself sledding and driving my very own quad bike with the Honor Magic 7 Professional. Possibly you do not want a devoted motion digital camera or a rugged case if these are the varieties of utmost conditions that your cellphone is examined to outlive.
With that being stated, the Honor Magic 7 sequence is not indestructible. It may break, scratch, and crack beneath the best circumstances. Whereas I watched the Magic 7 Lite survive roughly a four-foot fall at pace in Slovenia, it is doable your cellphone falls out of your pocket on the dinner desk and cracks. Typically, there isn’t any rhyme or motive to when telephones fail, regardless of how sturdiness requirements they meet or what number of real-world assessments they survive.
So, I will not exit and say that purchasing a OnePlus 13 or a Magic 7 sequence cellphone is a should in case you care about sturdiness. Nonetheless, I’ll say that from what I’ve seen, cellphone manufacturers are getting extra assured than ever about their gadgets’ sturdiness.
Whether or not you employ your smartphone to go to the workplace and again or take it on excessive excursions, that is excellent news. Something that may be carried out to make telephones more durable to crack and forestall water or mud from getting into is a stable step in the best course. With the appearance of IP69 smartphones, it is doable that telephones just like the Honor Magic 7 Professional, Moto G Energy, Oppo Discover X8 Professional, and OnePlus 13 aren’t simply taking a step — they could possibly be taking a leap.
