Apple Watch Sport Glass Bows To Sandpaper In Scratch Test

Remember Unbox Therapy? Yes, he is the same guy who brought video upon video of smartphone bending tests during the height of the iPhone 6 Plus #brendgate scandal. Now he's back again with Apple's latest mobile product, the Apple Watch. No, of course he will not try to bend the samrtwatch, which should probably be nigh impossible to do with bare hands. Instead, he is subjecting the device, particularly the Sport variant, to a different kind of torture test: getting it scratched by different, common (except for one) household materials.

OK, to be fair, he is not testing this on an actual Apple Watch Sport, which has yet to land in buyers' wrists. Instead, he will be scratching the hell out of what is supposedly the surface material covering the face of the smartwatch. This material is advertised as something called Ion X, which some believe to actually be just a rebranding of Gorilla Glass. Like Corning's product, this material is supposedly super strong and protects against scratches, reinforced a molecular level, hence the name. It's no sapphire glass, however, which should find its way to the more expensive Apple Watch Edition.

But does it really fulfill its promise? To test that claim, Unbox Therapy used five weapons: a key, a knife, steel wool, two sandpapers, one of which is utilizes aluminum oxide for more damage. Only of one this things you likely carry in your pocket or your bag, though you are also likely to put your Apple Watch on your wrist. Regardless, it's still interesting to find out how your Apple Watch will stand against wear and tear of metal.

Keys and somewhat unsurprisingly knives to do damage to it. You are more likely to smudge it with your fingers than scratch it with those sharp objects. Steel wool also doesn't make a dent, which should be useful when you're doing the dishes (do note that the Apple Watch is only water resistant, not water proof). Sadly, things go south from there. The Ion X surface surrenders to the abrasive powers of even the most basic sandpaper. It definitely didn't stand a chance against the more "hardcore" material.

Moral lesson: keep your wrists away from sandpaper, which hopefully won't be that hard, even for a more active model like the Apple Watch Sport.