iPhone X: Apple fans smash new phone just moments after buying it

The new phone is the first in years to have glass on the front and back – meaning you can smash it twice over

The new iPhone has arrived. And inevitably, moments later, the new iPhone has been smashed.

A number of people have bought the new phone only to drop it moments later, smashing up the screen after paying £1,000 and waited hours in the cold for the device.

Videos from China – where people were among the first to get their hands on the new phone, because of timezones – show people attempting to show off the new iPhone. But many of them fall victim to that pride, seeing the iPhone drop out of their hands and smash on the floor.

Pictures are also circulating on the microblogging site Weibo of a phone that has apparently been dropped, cracking both its front and back screen.

Weibo

The new iPhone features glass on the back as well as the front, in part to allow for wireless charging. In practice, the slightly tacky nature of the glass makes it easier to hold and harder to drop – but it also means that you can smash it on both sides, rather than just the front.

And Apple has got rid of the chin and forehead that sit at the top and bottom of the screen this time around, meaning that any drops will intrude right into the display.

(Weibo (Weibo)

The glass itself is more durable than any iPhone before, and Apple have been gradually using stronger and stronger materials in an attempt to stop them smashing. But it is still glass all the same, and will break if dropped from enough of a height.

Reports from those who dropped the phone suggest that the screen continues to function even once it is smashed. That wasn't clear, since Apple is using entirely new OLED technology and a new display.

Some of the people dropping their phones are doing so intentionally. Gadget blogger Eddy Cheng bought the phone and then dropped it repeatedly to see how much the phone's glass could stand.

Apple does offer AppleCare+ on the new phone, which allows people to take out a plan that will see them charged much less to fix broken phones. That costs £199 and then £25 for each time the phone is broken, in comparison with just under £300 if it's not protected.