iPhone takes on commercial truck, iPhone wins!
By Will Park on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 1:36 PM PST In Apple, iPhone
Well the iPhone didn’t really win, it just sorta walked away with its life. Here’s a quick little “How (NOT) To” guide for taking care of your iPhone:
- Don’t place iPhone on trunk of car on cold, windy, day in Kansas
- Don’t drive off with iPhone still sitting on said trunk – especially onto a highway
- Don’t stand on side of highway, waiting to retrieve fallen iPhone, causing a big-rig truck to run over iPhone
But, should you forget the above helpful tips, you’ll be glad to know that your iPhone can survive a run-in with an 18-wheeler and still work perfectly – albeit a bit scuffed up.
Mike Beauchamp, Kansas resident, apparently found out the hard way (or, really, the only way) that an iPhone can be run over by a multi-ton truck and still work.
As I watched helplessly from the shoulder, the semi plowed my phone at full speed, throwing it to the ditch on the other side of the highway. At this point, I figured I’d retrieve it just for the purpose of seeing the crushed iPhone in disarray, mangled and crunched lifeless in the grass…Much to my surprise, as I approached, I heard the familiar sound of my ringtone — the iPhone was alive and ringing! As I picked it up and cradled it gently in my hands, I saw the screen displaying my caller ID — the screen still worked! I slid my finger gently over the answer slide and paused as I held the tattered and torn device to my ear — my heart must have skipped a beat when I heard my mom’s voice at the other end of the phone — the phone still worked! I ran back to my car and sat on the side of the road for about 15 minutes inspecting it, testing it, and looking it over — how in the hell had it survived being trounced by an 18-wheeler at 70mph?!?”
Who knew the iPhone was a ruggedized handset?


Wow, that must be one of the luckiest things I’ve ever heard. I would have though that even if part of the iphone survived the screen would have been cracked and not work.
Did he make love to it when he got home too? Damn, that’s impressive, but even if it was demolished, he’d only be out $400.
I think the glass, capacitance touchscreen helped keep it from completely breaking. I doubt pressure-sensitive, plastic-based touchscreen would fare as well.
And, the slim, solid construction probably helped it survive. I wonder if that guy is covered under Apple Care