Watch This “USB Killer” Fry A 2016 MacBook Pro, iPhone 7, Pixel, More

Here are couple of videos showing a USB Killer stick Vs iPhone 7 Plus Vs Google Pixel and other devices in action.

Some people just want to watch the world burn, and now we’re going to have to put YouTuber EverythingApplePro firmly in that bracket after he decided to at least try to end the life of various pieces of expensive, high-end technology via what is called a USB Killer – essentially, a USB device that blows the logic board of anything it is plugged into by pumping high current through it.

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It’s fair to say that plugging USB dongles into phones and computers normally wouldn’t make for all that exciting a YouTube experience. However, it turns out that when that dongle is capable of killing a device, even a computer, simply by being plugged into it, then things start to get a little more interesting. To that end, the said YouTuber set about creating not just one, but two videos in which the USB Killer comes into contact with anything from an iPhone 7 to a Galaxy Note 7.

There are IBM notebooks and a MacBook Pro involved, and even the new Google Pixel is not safe from the carnage. We think anything that happened to be too close during the filming of the videos was probably unfortunate enough to have the USB Killer inserted into it, and that includes some high-end gear.

As it turns out, though, the USB Killer isn’t actually capable of killing everything it comes into contact with. Ironically, the Galaxy Note 7, for example, is one of the devices that found the USB killer inserted into it during both videos but alas, it lived to tell another tale. The same cannot be said about its charging port, though. Like the iPhone 7 Plus, the Note 7 was rendered incapable of drawing power from the port. Samsung has recalled the Galaxy Note 7 twice now due to issues with combustion, so we’re not sure on the wisdom of trying to push extra juice through it in this way. But hey, all’s well that ends well, right?

Surprisingly, older iPhone models – going all the way back to original model from 2007 – all survived the USB Killer test. iPad Pro, too, seemed to have survived the attack. Seems like Apple has some sort of protection installed in its iOS devices against such high voltage attacks. Apple’s MacBook Pro and Google’s Pixel smartphone though didn’t survive the test and immediately died when came into contact with the USB Killer device.

Be sure to check the videos out for yourselves, but the upshot is a simple one – don’t get one of these USB Killer and then start plugging it into things. Seriously, folks. Just don’t do it.

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