The Pixel Fold is Google’s first foldable smartphone, and it’s slowly starting to land in people’s hands now, although if you order one today from the Google Store in the US you’re looking at a month’s wait until it arrives. Looks like the company was very conservative with its sales estimates and thus didn’t really make a lot of these.
Anyway, the Pixel Fold is the latest device to go through the grueling “durability testing” that Zack from the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel has gotten us used to. Only a few slab-style phones have failed his tests in recent years, but this one is special since, you know, it folds. If you’re wondering how it fared, grab some popcorn and hit Play below.
If for some reason you couldn’t watch, we’ll give you the nitty gritty. The outer screen is of course covered by glass so it scratches at level 6 on the Mohs hardness scales as normal, with deeper grooves appearing at level 7. The inner, foldable screen has a plastic screen protector on top of the ultra-thin glass, and this scratches at level 2, with deeper grooves showing up at level 3.
The phone’s sides are made from metal, as is the SIM card tray, and the hinge is polished steel, as is the camera bump or ‘visor’. The outside screen lasted about 15 seconds when subjected to an open flame, while the folding display gave up after eight seconds, interestingly turning the phone off in the process.
After that, the handset didn’t turn back on for a minute, and when it did it threw a warning about it having shut down automatically due to high heat. Funny, in a way. Although the Pixel Fold isn’t rated for dust resistance, it withstands exposure to it rather well.
Finally, the bend test. When bent while unfolded, the Pixel Fold destroys most of its inner screen, by folding in the wrong direction. It then can’t be fold shut again. Interestingly, it’s not the hinge that fails, but the antenna lines that are the vulnerable points.
