Overview
- RhinoShield and UK launch partner Sent Into Space lifted an iPhone 17 Pro by high‑altitude balloon and released it from 30,607 meters on June 24, 2026 under rules that banned parachutes and required the case to hit the ground first.
- The phone tumbled for about 25 minutes through temperatures near minus 60°C before landing in remote Swedish wilderness and was found after more than five hours of searching within a roughly two‑kilometre search area.
- Guinness World Records adjudicators confirmed the device powered on, could place calls and still took photos, and awarded the record for the highest drop of a mobile phone in a phone case (natural landforms).
- RhinoShield says the AirX case relies on a single recyclable material plus an air‑isolation chamber and a compression skeleton to absorb and route impact forces, a design point the company tested in cold and low‑pressure lab runs before the launch.
- Coverage notes the result applies only to this specific iPhone 17 Pro and AirX sample and does not guarantee other phones or cases would survive similar high‑altitude, uncontrolled landings, though the verified outcome will likely be used to promote the case’s durability and recyclability.