Destroyed Apple Gadgets By Michael Tompert

In all, Tompert created 12 images of destroyed Apple products, working with his friend Paul Fairchild, a photographer. "They had to be a brand-new product," Tompert said. "It's not about destroying old products. It's about our relationship with the new." His methods of destruction varied by gadget. To destroy an iPhone 3G device (seen above), he used a Heckler & Koch handgun to blow a hole through it. To obliterate a set of iPod Nanos, he placed the devices on a train track so that a locomotive would run over them.
The most difficult product to obliterate was the iPad -- "it's practically indestructible," Tompert said. He said the iPad withstood blows from a sledgehammer and other blunt tools. In the end, he used a soldering torch to heat the insides of the iPad until they started to boil and the device exploded. Perhaps ironically, Tompert is a former Apple employee. He said he had nothing but admiration for the company's products. "I've been an Apple fan from Day 1," he said. Tompert, who hails from Germany, currently works as a graphic designer and specializes in CGI technology.