GoKawiilShimul Sood / Android Authority
TL;DR The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has been put through its paces by JerryRigEverything in a durability test.
While the foldable performs as expected in the scratch test, the inner display appears to give up after a bend test.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra continues to exhibit decent dust resistance, similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 7.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra is finally here, though some variants are facing delayed shipments due to high demand. It’s not uncommon for a newly released flagship phone to be put through its paces in durability tests, and Samsung’s latest foldable has received the same treatment, with a rather surprising result.
YouTuber Zack Nelson, a.k.a. JerryRigEverything, uploaded a durability test video of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, starting with the customary scratch test to gauge how the screens will manage under duress. The cover display fares on par with most phones available today, showing faint scratches at level 6 on the Mohs scale, with the scratches becoming more prominent at level 7.
However, scratches appear at level 2 on the inner display, with Nelson noting that even your fingernail could create blemishes on the screen. This is pretty much on par with how the Galaxy Z Fold 7 fared last year, so there are no big surprises here.
However, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra seems to have a weakness that its predecessor didn’t. The crucial bend test, which determines whether the phone can keep working when the screen is bent outward, proved too much for the Z Fold 8 Ultra’s inner display.
As Nelson found out, bending the smartphone a couple of times, albeit with some force, effectively broke the screen. While the display occasionally flickered, it was rendered unusable. Notably, the bend test didn’t seem to affect the cover display’s functioning.
It’s unclear whether the cover display’s failure is due to the 0.1mm reduction in thickness compared to the Z Fold 7, or to internal hardware changes that make the inner display more vulnerable to breakage. As Nelson points out, replacing this flexible screen costs $639, which is a substantial percentage of the Fold 8 Ultra’s actual cost. By contrast, the cover display seemingly costs only $149 to replace.
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