The Morning After: Are Samsung’s folding screens sturdy enough?

For all the hype around folding phones, there’s plenty of anxiety concerning how well those bendable screens survive long term. Depending on who you ask, they’re either weaker than spider silk or hardy enough to make your average lumberjack weep with envy. That’s why Sam Rutherford took matters into his own hands, spending the last year running his own durability test. He’s been using his Z Fold 4 without a case, leaving its factory-installed screen protector as the only defense.

At the dawn of the Z Fold 5, Rutherford is now ready to reveal how well he got on with its predecessor. Turns out that while the frame is now chipped and scratched, the screens “still look great,” with Samsung’s work in this area paying off. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a similar experiment undertaken on a Z Flip 4, the more pocketable handset in the lineup. In that case, it might be wise to make sure you live close to an authorized service center, so you’re not left without a phone for a week at a time.

– Dan Cooper

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Good luck with that one, buddy.

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