The power dissipation tolerances for InP/ InGaAs uni-travelling-carrier photodiodes (UTC-PDs) and pin-PDs under high power optical inputs are compared. Catastrophic failures occur at constant power dissipations of 240 and 160mW for the UTC-PDs and pin-PDs, respectively. Scanning electron microscope observations confirm that the areas of destruction are located in the high electric-field region in the depletion layer.