this is the first failure

Foldable mobile phones still have a lot of hurdles to overcome before they hit the mainstream audience more accustomed to conventional mobile phones. It’s true that flexible screens open the door to many possibilities, as new models like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 have shown; but it is equally true that they are more expensive and fragile than regular mobile phones, two very important elements for the average user.

Regarding the second, foldable mobile phones have known for breaking easily, and for good reason: they have a mechanical element that, if it fails, can render the entire device unusable. We are talking, of course, about the hinge, which allows us to close the device so that it takes up less space in our pocket.

Manufacturers know this, and for this reason, their advertising campaigns are mainly focused on the latest developments in hinge design; many brands promise an incredible number of open and close cycles that a normal person would not even want to achieve. But are these promises really true?

Breaking foldable mobile phones

To verify this, the YouTube channel Mrkeybrd decided to conduct a test that is contrary to common sense: open and close devices until they break. And we’re not talking about making the machine do the dirty work; real people sit in front of the camera and spend hours and hours just opening and closing devices. We are talking about tens of thousands of activities, with no distractions other than the constant noise of cell phones closing. At the time of this writing, both mobile phones have passed the 48,800 cycle mark in at least 18 hours; and many more are expected as the Galaxy Z Flip 3 endured opening and closing last year at least 418,500 times.

The two models pitted against each other this time around are the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Motorola Razr 40 Ultra, each company’s latest bet on clamshell folding. Motorola was the first to hit the market, surprising with its huge external screen; in response, Samsung also implemented a large screen in the new model of the Flip line. Both companies boast that they have passed the toughest tests on their hinges: Samsung passed the official 200,000 times test by a dedicated certification company; For its part, Motorola did not provide figures, but confirmed that the hinge is made of stainless steel, and the number of parts is reduced to avoid possible breakages.

However, at least for now, advantage belongs to samsung. And the fact is that the first mobile phone to fail during this test was the Razr 40 Ultra, which began to experience approximately more than 40,000 cycles. In particular, the mobile phone was difficult to close completely, leaving a large space between the two parts of the device; for a moment it seemed that everything was decided, but in the end the test continued until one of the two models failed completely.

While Samsung’s hinge movements seem to be smoother at the moment, there’s still a long way to go, and there’s always the possibility that another element fails before the hinge does. And that’s what company tests don’t look like this at all; they are designed for long-term use and in no case involve the constant opening and closing of the device manually; After all, no one in their right mind would do something like that with their mobile.

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