Samsung Z Fold 7 Durability Test --- The End is Near

Fun fact, the Samsung Fold series of phones has never snapped in half during one of my durability tests. However, this new guy, the Samsung Z Fold 7, is the thinnest Fold yet. So here's to hoping it finally happens today. Since this is the first substantial redesign of the Fold series in about 4 years, I'm pretty excited about it. And wow, does it already look really nice inside of that box. I'm feeling slightly guilty for what's about to happen. And like, yeah, it does take a special person to want a phone like this. A special person with really deep pockets since it starts at $2,000. The phone costs more than my first car. Beyond just deep pockets though, you also kind of got to have clean and soft pockets since there is a whole list of caveats to ownership. Like don't press too hard on the screen, make sure nothing's inside when you close it, the phone is not dust resistant, you know, don't get it wet, and don't remove the protective film on the inner display. And finally, keep away from anything affected by magnets like medical devices or credit cards. So far the only thing negatively affecting my credit card though is buying this phone in the first place. The camera bumps on the back are just as thick as the phone itself, which is kind of bonkers. I do see that Samsung has eliminated the air gap though between the metal lens and the body of the phone. They must have watched my S25 Ultra video. Sorry not sorry. But besides that camera bump, the thinness of this phone is wild. I do not foresee this thing surviving on this planet for more than a few minutes. And I do think Samsung has finally gone too far. I'll lay the phone flat to check the scratch resistance of the screen. And I'm using the term lay flat loosely here since it's not flat and rocks harder than Van Halen back in 84. The purpose of this scratch test is to see what the exterior screen is made from. Plastic scratches at a level 2 or 3. Glass scratches at a level 6. And sapphire screen smartphones scratch at a level 8 or 9. Thankfully though, since Samsung is using Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the outside screen, we start seeing scratches at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7. Very normal compared to other flagships like the Pixel 9 or the iPhone 16 Pro. When we get to the inner screen though, and this is where unfortunately I must be the bearer of bad news, the inner screen has not changed at all. Even though we are on the 7th generation of the Samsung folding series of fold phones, this fold 7 still scratches at a level 2, which means anything and everything will cause permanent marks on this inner screen surface, including fingernails, pocket sand, and, well, just about anything really. The good news though is that Samsung will include one free inner screen protector replacement free of charge within the first 12 months, and subsequent applications are available at $19.99. Regular people though are not allowed to remove the inner screen layer. If anything besides just the top layer is damaged though, the full replacement is around $589. So its durability is definitely something you want to keep in mind as you decide how careful you want to be with your new folding smartphone. You're not supposed to add any additional screen protectors to the middle screen or it'll mess with your crease and cause permanent damage. You can, however, add a screen protector to the exterior screen to help protect against impact and scratches that occur while it's closed. Like this easy to install Prism 2.0 screen protector from my channel sponsor, dbrand. The fun little Easter egg in the box is that dbrand includes two screen protectors every time. And even in a dusty environment like my desk, the first pull on the inner plastic removes any dust particles that might have been on the screen. I can then rub it a few times in the middle for good measure, and behold, the glass is perfectly installed every time. dbrand sells this actual glass Prism protection for pretty much every mainstream phone. And I'll leave a link in the description so you can get one for yourself. Protection is always a good thing. I'll just put the glass dust right back into the sand pile since glass dust is just sand anyway. And I mean, technically we're all just made of dust, but we don't need to get too existential just yet. The sides of this blue shadow colored Fold 7 are anodized aluminum. The fingerprint scanning power button is made from plastic, but the volume rocker is made from metal and removable. Not too big of a deal if it comes out though since it can just be popped right back into place. The top of the phone has its dual noise canceling microphone holes, the upper stereo speaker slit, and a SIM card tray. With no room for expandable storage, which is a bummer. The spine feels like more of that armor aluminum. Samsung says this new Armor Flex hinge is 27% thinner and 43% lighter, which makes me 100% more confident that it's going to snap like a pretzel. The bottom of the phone has two more microphones, the lower stereo speaker, and our 25 watt USB-C 3.2 port. Seriously though, look at the walls of this phone. Barely wider than the USB-C port itself. The back of this Fold 7 has Gorilla Glass Victus 2 as its panel, which covers the single tone LED flash. And of course we find our City Skyline array of camera bumps, which has the 12 megapixel ultra wide angle camera up top, 200 megapixel main camera in the center, and 10 megapixel 3x telephoto camera at the bottom. Thankfully, this time the camera lenses will not be popping off, partially thanks to the new dust ring right below the lip that won't allow my razor blade any leverage. Samsung fixes weaknesses just as fast as I can find them, which is pretty cool. And thumbs up for that. Under the front external display we find our fourth 10 megapixel camera safely protected by glass. And on the inner screen we have our fifth hole punch style camera that isn't hidden by pixels anymore. It's only protected by that ultra soft flexible plastic, which is, you know, about to go through some things. Even though the on-screen warning said that the phone is not dust resistant, officially it does have an IP48 rating. The 4 means that it's protected against solid objects larger than 1 millimeter in diameter. The 8 part of the IP48 pertains to submersion in liquid. Obviously we're just focusing on the dust side of things at the moment. And since here in the USA we don't know what a millimeter is, I'm just hitting it with everything I got. Even sprinkling the dust specs directly onto the hinge. Surprisingly though, even with all the dusting, neither the phone nor the hinge appears to have taken any damage. I mean, yeah, if the phone gets closed too hard on a rock or pebble, then it's game over for the center display. But at the moment it does not appear like dust will easily be getting inside the internal hinge and grinding, nor will it be getting under the screen...which is good. The inner display is a full 8 inches with 368 pixels per inch. Supposedly there's a titanium backplate adding support, which hopefully we'll see in a second. The 120 hertz 2600 nit AMOLED screen does permanently burn in about 10 seconds. So if you send a lot of fire text to the ladies, you should probably keep those to a minimum. The exterior screen is 6.5 inches with 422 pixels per inch, but it has the same 120 hertz AMOLED panel that burns at around 15 seconds and does not ever recover. Now, since I know this Fold 7 is living through its last few seconds here on Earth, I just want to see what it looks like with my teardown skin installed before it's obliterated. Kind of a sneak peek, if you will, at the insides before the insides become its outsides. Nobody paused this though, it's just a peek and I think it's glorious. Enough procrastinating though, it's time for the final boss, the bend test. Opening and closing the Fold 7 in the normal way still works just fine, even after everything it's been through. Samsung says the Fold 7 is good for 500,000 folds, which is wild – half a million. Theoretically you could bend this phone 100 times a day for nearly 14 years and it'd still be okay. But what about one bend horizontally? There is a concerning amount of flex when bent on the exterior screen, and about an equal amount of flex when bent from the rear panel that has the camera bumps. And if it has this much flexing motion while closed, I can already taste the carnage that's about to unfold when we bend it backwards while it's open. And it's time for the first bend. Kinda anticlimactic. It flexes backwards for sure, but like, that was it. No cracks in the screen, no pops of the hinge. It still folds closed and remains 100% functional and intact. But my mama didn't raise no quitter. Bending backwards again, we get the same flex, but literally no damage. I'm not sure what Voldemort Horcrux level of sorcery Samsung built this thing with, but I'm literally flexing the rear glass panel out of the frame without the glass cracking, without the phone cracking, and without the hinge cracking. Literal black magic. The Fold 7 is still able to fold completely shut and is still 100% operational. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. Get a teardown skin for your own phone to help me feel better. And thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around. It's time for me to hit the gym.