TechRax

TechRax is a YouTube channel[3] that focuses on making videos about the destruction of cell phones (particularly Apple iPhones and Samsungs Galaxy S and Note Series) and other technological devices.[4] The channel was founded by Taras Maksimuk (Ukrainian: Тара́с Ма́ксимук) on September 20, 2009, and its most popular video is "Taking a Bath in a Giant 1,500 Gallon Coca-Cola Swimming Pool!" which surpassed 30,000,000 views in under one month.[5] As of December 28, 2018, the channel has over 6.96 million subscribers and over 1.664 billion total views.

TechRax
Personal information
BornTaras Maksimuk
(1993-08-05) 5 August 1993
Lutsk, Volynska Oblast, Ukraine
NationalityUkrainian American
OccupationYouTuber
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2009–present
GenreTechnology, Destruction, and Reviews.
Subscribers6.96 million
Total views1.66 Billion
100,000 subscribers 2013[1]
1,000,000 subscribers 2015[2]
Alma materCalifornia State University
Updated October 1, 2019

History

Maksimuk began the TechRax channel as a standard tech blog but switched over to tech destruction videos in 2012 after discovering a demand for them. Maksimuk used the advertising revenue to finance his college studies.[6] The first destruction he did is "iPhone 5 Hammer Smash Drop Test -Episode #1-".[7] The destruction of Apple products are the most popular on the channel.[8]

Format

TechRax's videos generally follow the same format, and involve stress tests, drop tests and experiments involving the deliberate destruction or damage of technology, typically smartphones. Maksimuk has crushed an iPhone 5S under a train,[9] boiled an iPhone 6 in Coca-Cola,[10] performed a head-to-head comparison between an iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 to see which survives longer when boiled in water,[11] and destroyed an Apple Watch Edition with neodymium magnets.[8] The watch cost $10,000, which he raised through advertising in other videos.[12] The video drew over six million views by February 2016.[13] He subsequently melted crayons and dipped an iPhone 6s into them which then resulted in a major fire.[13] His most popular video is "Taking a bath in a 1500 gallon swimming pool filled with Coca-Cola. He also added 200 pounds of ice a half bucket of Mentos which only made minor reactions. Later in that video, he destroyed a brand new DJI Phantom 4 by flying it into the pool, a video which has 70 million views as of December 2018.[14]

Drop tests

A common video format on the channel involves drop tests of iPhones and other brand of phones, sometimes after encasing them in a substance to see if they would survive the fall. Other videos involve dropping objects from tall buildings.[15]

Controversy

TechRax is often criticized for destroying perfectly good and working devices, a huge majority of them being brand new. His most popular video, "Taking a Bath in a Giant 1,500 Gallon Coca-Cola Swimming Pool!" has over 208,000 dislikes. On March 4, 2017, Maksimuk released a video in which he poured molten aluminum on an iPhone and also onto several live Madagascar hissing cockroaches together with the phone, allegedly to see if the cockroaches would survive. Many viewers were disturbed by the video, which led to Maksimuk subsequently deleting the video from YouTube. In January 2019, the video was reinstated, but as of April 2020, the video is still unavailable.

References
  3. "Techrax". YouTube. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
  4. Bort, Julie (2015-07-31). "This guy built a YouTube following by destroying thousands of dollars of iPhones just for fun". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  5. TechRax (2016-06-24), Taking a Bath in a Giant 1,500 Gallon Coca-Cola Swimming Pool!, retrieved 2016-07-14
  6. Orf, Darren (2015-05-05). "Meet the Twisted YouTube Geniuses Who Destroyed the Apple Watch". Gizmodo. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  7. TechRax (2012-09-25), iPhone 5 Hammer Smash Drop Test -Episode #1-, retrieved 2016-05-22
  8. Kooser, Amanda (2015-06-15). "Watch a $10,000 Apple Watch get crushed by powerful magnets". CNET. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  9. Statt, Nick (2014-07-24). "iPhone 5S vs. train goes exactly like you'd expect". CNET. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  10. Wehner, Mike (2014-12-17). "Boiling an iPhone 6 in Coca-Cola, for science". Engadget. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  11. Moscaritolo, Angela (2015-04-23). "Watch What Happens When You Boil an iPhone 6, Galaxy S6". PC Magazine. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  12. Elmer-DeWitt, Philip (2015-06-14). "Watch a $10,000 gold Apple Watch get destroyed". Fortune. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  13. Kooser, Amanda (2016-02-15). "Watch an iPhone try to survive a hot melted-crayon bath". CNET. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  14. https://huffingtonpost.com/entry/pool-filled-with-coca-cola_us_57703701e4b017b379f64b73
  15. http://rayanuk.com/20160414230552013/can-lego-protect-an-iphone-6s-from-100-ft-drop-test
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