THIS MOBILE AIRBAG LOOKS LIKE A TRANSFORMER

People drop their smartphones all the time, and there is no end to the frustration of a cracked phone screen.

A good case and screen protector might protect you from the worst of damages, but those things can only do so much. That's where this inventive "mobile airbag" comes into action. Designed by a genius German engineering student named Phillip Frenzel, this airbag may be the solution to save money and unneeded stress.

Frenzel's mobile airbag design is a case that senses when your phone is in freefall and releases metal prongs to protect it from damage. This specialised case deploys spring-loaded spider-like legs as it starts to fall. The legs appear to soften the impact of a fall more than an average smartphone case.

Frenzel won an award from the German Mechatronics Society with this design and expects to launch the device on Kickstarter next month along with Peter Mayer, another student at the university, according to the German publication, which can be read here.

If this product – or a design similar to this, with an improved aesthetic feel – actually makes it to the market, there's no doubt it could help save people hundreds of dollars they would otherwise end up spending on phone repairs or new devices. The era of cracked screens may actually come to an end, sooner then we think.