The iPhone 4 is one sturdy phone. Mine lasted for more than 4 years before I decided to upgrade. But, in my wildest dream, I couldn’t have imagined that the phone could survive being sunk at the bottom of a lake for almost a year and still work after it was recovered. Because that’s exactly what happened!
Just to clear your doubts, iPhone 4 is NOT water resistant. There is absolutely nothing protecting it from even a drop of rain, which makes this story even more incredible.
Michael Guntrum, while out ice fishing one day with a friend, accidentally dropped his iPhone 4 into a hole in the frozen lake. For anyone else, this would probably be the end of the story. Who can imagine retrieving a phone from a lake bed, especially one that was frozen. But Michael Guntrum was in for a surprise.
Kyle Lake (the very same lake where Michael went ice fishing) was drained in September 2015 because the dam it was situated in had structural deficiencies. Daniel Kalgren, a mechanical engineer armed with a metal detector, was searching around the empty lake bed “to find what people dropped off of boats”. And that’s where he came across the iPhone 4, buried under more than 6 inches of mud and clay. Apparently, it was the only thing he found that day.
He took it home, cleaned it up and left it in a bag of rice for a couple of days to see if it would work. Because, why not! To his amazement, the iPhone actually turned on and was in working condition. He used the iPhone to contact the phone’s owner Michael who had a hard time believing all this at first. It was only when Daniel sent him a picture of the phone that Michael recognised it by the lock screen wallpaper. Understandably, Michael was in a state of befuddlement for quite a while.
How did the phone survive this ordeal? While I am sure Apple would like to take credit for this miracle, the real saviour is the rugged case it was encased in called the OtterBox, which is probably made of magic. Because how else can you explain the iPhone returning from its watery grave in ship shape condition. If I were the CEO of OtterBox, I’d definitely capitalise on this moment of glory and use it in my next marketing campaign.
So what does Michael plan on doing with this piece of Apple treasure? He plans on giving it to his mother since she does not have a smartphone. That is so sweet, but I personally believe the museum would be a more fitting place for this phone.
I would also recommend that we all pick up the Otterbox case for our iPhones because, evidently, they are one of the few phone covers that actually do what they say on the box – protect your phone, regardless of the environment.