Smartphone makers may not put their handsets through a bullet test, but there have been some cases where the smartphones have proved they are tough enough to stop gun shots. Samsung has long been criticized for using cheap plastic materials for smartphones but the same material managed to stop a bullet and save a man's life.
According to 9to5Mac, which reported the incident via AppleDaily, a Taiwanese man, identified by his surname Han, was shot during a bar fight on Monday. But lucky for him, a Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 was in his shirt pocket and served as a shield by stopping the bullet from penetrating through his chest.
The fight started when Han picked up a wallet dropped by another man and joked about using it to buy beer. The owner of the wallet, Xu, did not find it funny and got angry and pulled out his gun. Trying to defend, Han went to attack the man with the gun. The bullet entered Han's arm and then deflected to his chest but lucky for Han, the 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega stopped the bullet. Xu fled the scene. Han was rushed to a hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, but not the phone.
According to the police, Xu shot Han from about 2-3 meters. The force of the bullet was controlled when it first penetrated the arm before the phone could eventually stop the bullet. Xu surrendered himself to the police later, AppleDaily added.
This incident of a smartphone saving a life isn't the first. In May an off-duty cop's life was saved when a Nokia Lumia 520 stopped a bullet. In a separate incident, HTC EVO 3D was able to deflect a bullet, saving a man's life, last year. HTC sent a brand new EVO 3D to the survivor as a gesture of courtesy. Microsoft did not follow a similar feat, while it remains to be seen whether Samsung will ship out a new phone to Han.
