Watch Samsung’s TriFold Take an Unfortunate First Place in This Durability Test

Zack Nelson’s Christmas gift to his 9.7 million YouTube subscribers was a durability test of Samsung’s TriFold smartphone.

“Every now and then there’s a piece of technology that lands on my desk that almost makes me feel bad about what’s about to happen… almost,” the guy behind JerryRigEverything says at the start of the test, leaving you with a strong feeling that it’s going to happen. No finishing well for Samsung’s first phone with not one but two hinges.

Anyone who has witnessed one of Nelson’s durability tests knows that it involves a lot of scratches and scrapes. The phones will also have handfuls of sand on them and a naked flame on their screens.

Nelson begins the video by showing the list of warnings that appear on the phone’s screen when he first turns it on. Don’t remove the protective film from the main screen, says one of them, while another points out the phone’s inability to handle small particles like sand. It also makes it clear that when folding the device you should “always start with the panel that does not have a camera,” since “starting with the panel that has cameras can damage your phone.”

Yes, it looks like a pretty delicate device, and before Nelson pulls out his first metal scraper, you get the strong feeling that you’re about to witness a horror show.

The TriFold’s soft, flexible interior screen, which opens to a whopping 10 inches, doesn’t like being pressed by a hard, pointy object, but that’s the same with all foldable screens. They are simply too soft to avoid damage if you treat them harshly.

Then comes the sand. A lot. Nelson admits it’s a ridiculous amount, but it’s still horrible to hear the creaking noises when your phone’s hinges can’t handle all that dirt.

“I would be very nervous if I ever placed the TriFold on a surface that wasn’t spotless,” says Nelson.

And then, the infamous flex test, in which the YouTuber uses his bare hands to flex the phone in an attempt to learn more about its structural integrity. A second or two after feeling the force, the TriFold’s screen fails, although the device at least manages to remain in one piece.

Nelson notes that the TriFold has become “the first Samsung to die during my curvature test,” before concluding: “If you’re going to treat the TriFold well, it’s probably the coolest phone on the planet. But if you’re the kind of person who’s laid-back and carefree with their hardware, this probably isn’t the phone for you.”