It’s a familiar occurrence. A new smartphone launches, some time passes, but not too much generally, and then it’s put through the paces of the dreaded ‘durability test’. So here we are again. This time the star is Samsung’s latest large-size foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Z Fold5, announced late last month.
It too now has to endure some scratching, some burning, and some bending. Will it make it through? Well, to find out, grab some popcorn and hit Play below.
Or, alternatively, keep reading. It turns out that the outer screen is, unsurprisingly, covered with glass, so it scratches at level 6 on the Mohs hardness scale, with deeper grooves showing at level 7.
The inner screen is a different story, since it has a permanent non-replaceable plastic protector on top of it to enable it to fold and unfold. This being plastic, scratches occur at level 2, with deeper grooves at level 3. The frame is made from aluminum, as is the hinge, while the buttons are metal too.
The inner screen’s top plastic layer melts after about 10 seconds in contact with an open flame, the outer screen takes some more thanks to the glass. The fingerprint sensor, once scratched, doesn’t work consistently anymore, unfortunately.
When subjected to a bunch of dust and grime, the phone doesn’t budge. And when bent while closed, nothing happens. Then, when opened and bent backwards… once again, nothing happens. That’s a rather outstanding result considering the folding nature of this phone and the fact that competitors like the Google Pixel Fold and the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra did not survive a similar test. And yet, the Galaxy Z Fold5 did, and deserves praise.
If you’re interested in learning more about the device, stay tuned as our in-depth review is almost ready. In the meantime, take a look at our hands-on review.
