Samsung has not had the greatest success with its foldable phone efforts. Its original Galaxy Fold was plagued with problems and now its Galaxy Z Flip is failing durability tests.
JerryRigEverything’s Zack Nelson was the first to find problems. Zack torture tests new devices. In fact, it’s almost criminal what Zack does to phones and tablets and watching his channel is not for the faint-of-heart gadget lover. Unfortunately for Samsung, however, it didn’t take much for the Galaxy Z Flip to fail.
In the video, Zack uses a razor blade, lighter and a picks to test the screen. Not only does the screen show virtually no scratch resistance, it actually scratches when Zack uses his fingernail. Zack calls Samsung to task for calling the screen glass, when it clearly behaves as plastic.
In an emailed statement to The Verge, Samsung said the screen is in fact made of glass, but includes a non-removable plastic layer on top of it:
”Galaxy Z Flip features an Infinity Flex Display with Samsung’s Ultra Thin Glass (UTG) to deliver a sleek, premium look and offer an immersive viewing experience,” a spokesperson said by email. “Samsung’s first-of-its-kind UTG technology is different from other Galaxy flagship devices. While the display does bend, it should be handled with care. Also, Galaxy Z Flip has a protective layer on top of the UTG similar to Galaxy Fold.”
Unfortunately, the problems don’t stop with the plastic layer. As BGR points out, users are already experience cracked screens when unfolding the new phone. One Twitter user had barely taken the phone out of the box, removed the removable shipping film from the screen, unfolded it and the phone cracked.
As phone launches go, it’s not as bad as the Galaxy Fold—but it’s not much better either.
