AirPods removed from dog's stomach, survive (the dog too)
Apple has earned quite the reputation over the years when it comes to the sturdiness of its gadgets. iPhones often give the impression of being indestructible, even after surviving plenty of worst case scenarios.
We've seen them spend months forgotten at the bottom of some lake, even a whole year once, and come out completely unharmed. Of course, if you happen to drop it just once from a couple of feet onto a hard surface, it's a different story.
We've stumbled across another such story featuring indestructible Apple gadgets, this time arguably more insane than ever—and it involves a Golden Retriever and some AirPods.
It was Easter Sunday, and 22-year-old Rachel Hicks was about to give her Golden Retriever puppy his first Easter egg. She was trying to take photos of the event for her Instagram account, and his excitement was showing. He was jumping up and down and running around, Rachel said, all hyped up and ready for his treat.
Amidst the hubbub, Jimmy—a hefty-sized lil' pup—leapt up a bit too excitedly and managed to knock his owner's AirPods out of her pocket.
The AirPods clattered to the ground, still in their case, and before Rachel could gather her wits, they were gone. Disappeared, in fact, hastily devoured by her beloved pooch. Straight down the gullet they went, and little Jimmy was left looking up at her in confusion, wondering why his treat had tasted so... plasticky.
He looked up at me straight after and gave me a look as if to say "that wasn't the treat, was it?" My heart sank. —Rachel Hicks
When Rachel understood what happened, she also realized the gravity of the situation. Acid from the battery in both the AirPods and their case could leak out inside Jimmy's stomach and cause serious damage, potentially killing him.
She rushed him to the vet, where they were immediately concerned and sent him in for emergency surgery. The operation went without a hitch, the AirPods were retrieved from his stomach, and Jimmy was none the worse for wear after the whole ordeal. Although he was probably still disappointed for getting cheated out of his Easter egg.
The truly astonishing thing, though (apart from the pup's full recovery), is the fact that the AirPods came out even more unscathed than Jimmy himself. According to Rachel, there wasn't a single mark or defect on the Apple gadget, even after marinating in Jimmy's gastric juices for a few hours—and the AirPods were working as normal.
To [the vet's] surprise, there wasn’t a scratch or a tooth mark on the device and even the charging light was still on.
It isn't clear which AirPods model underwent this extreme physics experiment, but none of the three versions so far feature water resistance: they're all rated IPX4, meaning they're sweat- and splash-proof at best.
Yet Apple has always gone above and beyond in delivering more resistance to extreme environments than they usually claim, so maybe we shouldn't be all that surprised.
Rachel and Jimmy's story seems like the greatest inadvertent advertisement for Apple's upcoming AirPods 3, which will be announced none other than tonight (April 20) at Apple's "Spring Loaded" event. If previous models can survive prolonged submersion in gastric juices, that speaks worlds more than calling them IPX4-rated will. Maybe Apple should consider putting that on the label.
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