A mobile phone survived a free fall from a height of over 30 km after being carried by a balloon into the stratosphere and released over northern Sweden.
This amazing fall was not just an adventure, but an extreme test for a phone case designed to be environmentally friendly and at the same time shock-resistant, which earned it a Guinness World Record .
The experiment was carried out in cooperation between RHINOSHIELD, the phone case manufacturer, and the British space company Sent Into Space.
The phone and its casing were launched by a balloon sent into the stratosphere, then dropped from a height of 30,607 meters (100,418 feet) above an area near the Swedish city of Kiruna, on June 24.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the device was found completely intact despite falling from a height more than three times the altitude of normal commercial airliners.
It wasn't just a typical fall; Guinness World Records stipulated that the phone had to drop without a parachute, with the case being the first part to touch the ground. The team also faced the challenge of the extreme conditions at an altitude of tens of kilometers, where temperature and atmospheric pressure differ drastically from the Earth's surface. Therefore, the team conducted extensive sub-zero temperatures and low pressure tests to prepare the case and phone for this extraordinary journey.
The AirX casing was inspired by car airbags and pneumatic cushioning systems used in athletic shoes, and was designed with a structure that efficiently absorbs shock energy.
Most importantly, the casing is made from a single material that is fully recyclable, making it an environmentally friendly option without compromising durability and protection.
Surviving the fall was only half the battle; the other half was finding the phone in the rugged terrain of northern Sweden.
The launch took place near the Esrange Space Center, a restricted area typically used for spaceflight operations. The phone was dropped over an uninhabited area to avoid any risks on the ground. Although the phone's signal was tracked and its impact zone located within a two-kilometer radius, the rescue team spent more than five hours searching the wilderness before finding the device completely undamaged.
This wasn't just a publicity stunt; it carried a deeper message about environmental sustainability. Most phone cases on the market combine multiple types of plastic and rubber, making recycling complex and difficult. The AirX case, however, uses a mono-material design, which greatly simplifies the recycling process.
The company asserts that this design does not sacrifice durability, but rather offers superior protection thanks to intelligent shock-absorbing engineering.
