We’ve seen plenty of unbelievable iPhone survival stories over the years. The seemingly indestructible gadgets (except when you drop them from a foot off the ground, of course) have been making it alive out of the craziest of places, and the stories keep coming.
Apple has regularly come under fire for adamantly refusing to provide coverage for water damage in its insurance policies, but it may well have good reason. Although none of its phones are marketed as truly “waterproof,” their high IPX ratings as of late, coupled with an unrelenting resilience to the elements, have given them quite a reputation. Kudos to Apple, as it seems you’d really have to waterboard your iPhone rather violently to actually water damage it and need repair coverage.
After a few tumbles off his board, Chen suddenly felt the string around his neck suspiciously light. It was then he realized the bag had become detached, and plummeted into the 89-foot deep waters of Sun Moon Lake.
“Rest assured, you’ll see your [iPhone] again in a year.”
While most people would probably have shrieked and wrung their hands in despair, and left the phone to rot in its watery grave, Chen had a surprisingly positive outlook. He commented to his wife that someone might chance upon his iPhone floating in the lake, and his friend told him, “Rest assured, you’ll see your [iPhone] again in a year.”
Chen is one of the fortunate ones and his friend’s prediction came true: exactly a year later, a severe drought dried up the lakebed to such an extent that his iPhone was found on the dry rocks, and returned to him—working good as new. Chen was so thrilled that he couldn’t sleep for days, he said.
The Apple gods must have been looking out for him, because that part of the lakebed hadn’t seen the light of day in 50-60 years. Soon after the phone was discovered, the waters of Sun Moon Lake began to rise again.
That’s one lucky man in our books.
The iPhone 11 Pro Max, after spending a year on the lake bottom
