TL;DR
- A Philippines resident says their phone survived floodwaters and three days buried in mud after Typhoon Kalmaegi destroyed their home.
- The iPhone 17 Pro Max worked fine after charging, despite the other devastating impacts of the natural disaster.
- While the user’s own survival is what matters, the story again highlights the durability of modern devices, following earlier examples of Android endurance.
When Typhoon Kalmaegi tore through the Philippines this week, it left catastrophic damage in its wake. Tragically, many lives were lost, entire homes were destroyed, and communities were left to rebuild from scratch. Amidst the devastation, one Reddit user shared an incredible story of their own survival, as well as that of their iPhone, adding to a growing list of phones that have beaten the survival odds recently.
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In a post on r/iphone, user bricksandcanvas explained that their house in Mandaue City, Cebu, was destroyed by the flooding. They said they almost drowned trying to escape, but managed to get to safety. Their phone, however, was swept away in the floodwaters. When they were finally well enough to go back and look for it three days later, they found it stuck in the mud. After cleaning it up and plugging it in, it turned on straight away and worked fine.
The user later mentioned in the thread that it was an iPhone 17 Pro Max, inside a CARE by PanzerGlass Samba Vanilla case. The case is likely to have been limited assistance in this scenario, and the fact that the phone still worked at all is pretty extraordinary. The phone’s IP68 rating means it’s designed to survive up to 30 minutes underwater at a depth of 1.5 meters. That doesn’t mean it will definitely fail after that time; it’s just the level the manufacturer has tested it to.
The most important thing is that the owner made it out alive, but this adds to a growing list of stories about how tough modern phones have become. Earlier this year, a Pixel 8 was found to be working after spending four days in a hot tub, and a Galaxy phone survived for five hours trapped under Arctic ice.
This is quite a testament to the latest iPhone’s engineering, even if there was undoubtedly some luck involved as well. Many commenters on the Reddit post suggested that Apple might be tempted to spotlight the story, as Samsung did with the S23 Ultra after it was submerged in ice water. However, these are very different circumstances, and the fact that the owner managed to escape with their life is what matters.
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