HONOR’s new tricks? A helicopter drop test, and temperature test for its new X9c 5G

MANILA, Philippines – For the third year in a row now, HONOR is starting the new year with phone stunts that are fairly impressive, fun, and also a little silly, with its midrange X9 phones.

It started with January 2023’s X9a, where a car ran over it, at the launch event, among other torture tests.

In 2024, they had a drone drop the phone from a hundred feet. And at that model’s launch event, they had participants throwing the phone from the second floor and onto the ground below.

In those two years, there was also a lot of fruit-smashing, some videos of which also went viral on social media.

This year, the brand is aiming to outdo itself with an even higher drop test, using a helicopter to drop the new X9c 5G from a height of 500 feet. The stunt is pushing the phone’s official drop survivability specs of 2 meters — which is 0.5 meters higher than the X9b 5G’s. The video showing the drop will be embedded here when it becomes available.

But it also has a newer trick up its sleeve: the phone is said to be capable of surviving temperatures from — 40-degrees Celsius to 70-degrees Celsius. The brand demonstrated the new heat capability by dipping the phone in hot water, which its Malaysia arm called the “hotpot test,” for a number of seconds.

HONOR says that the X9c’s camera and its housing have also been given an “anti-drop camera shield,” which was not present in the older phone, boding well for better camera survivability in case of a drop.

While HONOR does not encourage people to go out and replicate the durability stunts, the improved toughness is certainly appreciable for anyone who has accidentally dropped a phone, and seen a smashed screen in absolute terror.

If you’ve ever dropped your phone in the nilaga you’re cooking (we mean, that’s not a 100% impossibility) or accidentally left your phone in your car parked under the sun, the extreme heat capability would be helpful.

Very notable is the phone’s significant increase in battery life from 5,800 mAh to 6,600 mAh — which translates to 89 hours of operational time, according to official HONOR figures. The number represents a 12-hour increase from the X9b’s battery life, according to the brand.

The X9c also gains the brand’s 66-watt super charging feature, a big jump from the 35-watt charging of the X9b. The 66-watt super charging juices up the phone from zero to 80% in 42 minutes, HONOR said.

The phone officially launches on January 10, where price and full specs will be announced. Both 2023’s X9a and 2024’s X9b retailed for P16,990. – Rappler.com