With a lot of folks getting their hands on the iPhone 5 for the first time today, there are understandably a lot of drop tests hitting YouTube. One of the more interesting drop tests comes from the folks at Android Authority, who pitted the iPhone 5 against the Samsung Galaxy S III. The results of the test are definitely surprising, so this is one that you’ll absolutely want to check out.

In an effort to make this drop test as realistic as possible, the phones were dropped from various heights. First, the phones were dropped from a height around two-and-a-half feet to simulate a user dropping their phone while pulling it out of their pocket. In the second part of the test, the phones were both dropped from a height of four feet, which simulates a drop while you’re putting the phone up to you ear to answer a call. With the third round, both phones were dropped from ear height, which is about 5’6″ in this case. Finally, the iPhone 5 was dropped from a height of around 5’10″ – the Galaxy S III sat this test out, sadly.

After the first round, both phones were still on an equal playing field. Though the cases on both suffered some scratches, neither phone showed any damage on the screen. The second test wasn’t so kind on the Galaxy S III – while the iPhone’s screen remained unscathed after the second the test, the Galaxy S III landed on its upper left corner, which shattered the top part of the screen. The good news is that the Galaxy S III’s touch screen was still functioning after the impact, so at least there’s that.

With the third test, the Galaxy S III suffered even more damage while the iPhone 5 remained in tact. The battery cover on the Galaxy S III flew off when the phone hit the ground, and the drop caused the screen to crack even more. When it came time to drop the iPhone 5 from 5’10″, once again the screen didn’t give. At the end of everything, the iPhone 5 held up suprisingly well, with only a few scuffs on the sides and corners and a few dents in the aluminum on the back.

Of course, with drop tests it’s always a crapshoot. Sometimes phones will drop on a corner, which is usually enough to crack the screen, and other times it won’t, making it hard to gauge just how well a phone holds up when dropped. Still, this drop test should give us a general idea of how resilient the iPhone 5 is, and it seems to safe to say that it’s quite a bit tougher than the delicate iPhones of the past. What do you think of this head-to-head drop test?

via slashgear