As expected. The only thing the blogger criticized the smartphone for was the complete lack of the claimed dust resistance.
JerryRigEverything tests the durability of the Galaxy Z TriFold — breaking the “tri-fold” is easy
YouTube blogger JerryRigEverything (Zack Nelson), known for his harsh tech tests, got his hands on the Galaxy Z TriFold — Samsung’s first tri-fold device. As expected, the smartphone turned out to be fragile.
First, the blogger tested the exterior durability of the Galaxy Z TriFold: the fiberglass back panel and the aluminum side rails can be scratched effortlessly, and the volume rocker can be ripped out of the body.
The external display is protected by tempered glass, which scratches at levels 6–7 on the Mohs scale.
The internal screen proved significantly less resistant to damage. It can be scratched even with fingernails, which is typical for foldable phones.
Neither the internal nor the external screen withstood the flame of a lighter: the external display lasted over a minute, while the internal one lasted about 10 seconds. Afterward, permanent defects remained on the screens.
However, all of this is typical for foldables, so Nelson didn’t criticize Samsung for these issues with the TriFold. The criticism was directed at the smartphone’s dust resistance—or rather, the lack thereof.
Samsung claims the TriFold is protected against dust and moisture with an IP48 rating. The blogger concluded that the smartphone has no dust protection at all: if small particles get inside, the hinges inevitably start to crunch due to the magnets inside the smartphone’s structure.
Next, Nelson moved on to his traditional test—he tried to bend the device. To start, the blogger bent only one of the smartphone’s panels—the TriFold bends without issues at the antenna lines:
After that, Nelson bent the entire TriFold structure while unfolded. During the test, the smartphone failed completely.
At the end of the video, the blogger took apart the Galaxy Z TriFold:
Earlier online tests checked how many folds the Galaxy Z TriFold hinges could withstand before failing: the smartphone can be folded 144,000 times.
Video on the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel: