In Arizona summer, this one comes up constantly. Manufacturers have done a remarkable job of overselling water resistance, and honestly — we get it. “IP68 rated” sounds like your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy can handle anything. It can’t handle a full water slide at full speed with water pressure hitting it at every angle. We’ve written about liquid damage at length in our blog, but the short version is this: your device is water resistant under very controlled conditions, not waterproof under punishment. If you’re heading to a water park this summer, leave the phone in the locker. It’s cheaper than a repair.

You’re mid-workout, the phone is on the floor next to the rack, and a 25-pound plate slips. That ruggedized case is protecting you, right? Not really. A 25-pound weight dropped from five feet generates over 125 foot-pounds of force on impact. There isn’t a case on the market built to absorb that — the case survives, the phone doesn’t. It doesn’t matter if it’s an iPhone 15 Pro, a Samsung Galaxy S24, or a Google Pixel 9 — we see gym casualties regularly at our shops in Scottsdale and Mesa, and the damage is usually significant. For what it’s worth, most gym facilities have lockers for exactly this reason.

This one comes up more often than you’d expect, and it’s always a memorable conversation. No phone — iPhone, Android, or otherwise — survives a forklift. The good news — for the business owners and IT managers reading this — is that we offer business accounts with free pickup and delivery. If your company covers employee devices and your team works in an environment where things occasionally meet heavy machinery, give us a call. We can set something up that makes the whole process painless on your end.

Our friends over at Blendtec have built an entire brand around their “Will It Blend?” series, and yes — they can blend any iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, iPad, or Android tablet without breaking a sweat. This is the one scenario where we genuinely cannot help. There is no repair path for a blended phone. We admire the commitment to a demonstration, but if you’re testing your blender’s limits, maybe use something other than your daily driver.

People admit to this one in our shops more than you’d think — and honestly, I respect the honesty. It probably felt satisfying for about half a second. Whether it’s an iPhone, a Samsung Galaxy, or a Google Pixel, the frame damage on a wall-launched phone can be severe, and the internal damage even more so. We’re sometimes able to bring these back, and sometimes the recommendation is a new device. The good news: we carry certified pre-owned iPhones and Android devices right in store, so you don’t have to leave without a working phone. And yes, we’ll make sure you leave with a case and tempered glass this time.

A recurring theme, and honestly one of the more relatable ones on this list. The phone slides into the cushion gap, you don’t notice, you hit the recline button, and the mechanism does what mechanisms do. The damage is usually limited to a cracked iPhone screen, a shattered Samsung Galaxy display, or a broken iPad back — which is actually a best-case scenario in the phone-destruction world. These are almost always repairable, and we carry parts in stock so it typically goes same day.

It’s estimated that several hundred thousand people in the US lose or damage their device on amusement park rides every year — iPhones, Samsung Galaxy phones, Google Pixels, you name it. Beyond the heartbreak of a broken phone, consider the timing — you’re traveling, you’re away from home, and now you don’t have a device for the rest of the trip or the ride home. Most major parks have phone storage at ride entrances for exactly this reason. Use it. And if you’re heading somewhere and want to make sure your device is protected before you go, our drop protection options are worth a look.

We are right next to Old Town Scottsdale. I’ll leave it at that. We see this one regularly — a customer walks in the morning after, iPhone or Samsung Galaxy in hand (or in pieces), with a sheepish look and zero recollection of the incident. No judgment here whatsoever. We’ve seen everything. Just bring it in and we’ll figure out together what’s salvageable. The Scottsdale shop is close enough that you can practically walk over from wherever the night ended.

Hands full, phone goes in the trunk for a second, trunk goes shut. My own wife has done this one — so I say with complete sincerity that it can happen to anyone. The good news is that trunk and tailgate damage on an iPhone, Android phone, or iPad is usually contained to the screen or back glass, and in most cases we can have it fixed and back in your hands the same day. Book an appointment or just walk in — we’ll take a look.

Hands full, mind elsewhere — the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy goes on the roof, you pull out of the driveway, and by the time you remember it’s up there, it’s already face-down somewhere on the street. I had a customer come in recently who went back and found his Google Pixel after it had been run over multiple times. It wasn’t fully salvageable as a device, but we were able to boot it long enough to do a complete data transfer, which was the thing he actually cared most about. Sometimes the data is worth more than the phone — and we treat it that way.