I don't know about you, but if there's one thing I love to do with a frighteningly expensive gadget, such as the recently released Apple Watch Ultra, it's trying to smash it with hammers.
Luckily for me and my bank balance, I don't need to do that with the Apple Watch Ultra, because YouTube channel TechRax already has (opens in new tab) – and Apple's toughest and best smartwatch turns out to be even tougher than you might expect. After trying to smash it repeatedly on a table, TechRax actually broke the table it was on instead.
You can't accuse TechRax of being lazy. First of all they tried dropping it from four feet up, a height I know from bitter personal experience can do serious damage to a smartwatch screen. The Ultra was barely scuffed. Next, they swirled it around in a jar of nails to replicate the experience of, er, putting your smartwatch into a jar of nails. The nails didn't leave a mark.
That's when they reached for the hammer.
Stop. Hammer time!
As MacRumors reports (opens in new tab), the final step was to smack the sapphire crystal glass of the Apple Watch Ultra with a hammer until it broke. The crystal lasted a surprisingly long time – it's clearly much stronger than the glass in earlier Apple Watch models, which I've managed to crack with a single accidental knock – and the hammer attack was as damaging to the table as it was to the Apple Watch Ultra.
If you're wondering why anybody would want to take a hammer to a perfectly good Apple Watch Ultra, the answer is of course views: at the time of writing the video has already been watched by, and has served ads to, over 4 million people. But it's also interesting to see Apple's PR claims put to the test, because of course the Ultra is in part being sold on the basis of how tough it is. Maybe its next ad campaign could have the strapline "Hammer don't hurt 'em (opens in new tab)." Or maybe not.
