Samsung was one of many early adopters of foldable expertise when it rolled out the first-ever Z Fold in early 2019. Nearly seven years since then, the Korean smartphone maker launched its Z Fold 7 final month with the promise of being the thinnest, lightest, and most superior foldable smartphone but.
One of many greatest fears about adopting a foldable gadget is the sturdiness of the hinge. Samsung formally states that the Z Fold 7 has been examined for folding and unfolding 5,00,000 occasions — greater than double the two,00,000 folds it promised with the Z Fold 6. To place it in perspective, if the determine does maintain up, it ought to final about 10 years when folding the cellphone 100 occasions a day, and over 6 years when folding it 200 occasions a day.
However have you ever ever questioned if that declare really holds up — and if the cellphone incurs some other harm in the course of the claimed fold cycle? Nicely, you’re actually not alone. One Korean YouTuber from the channel Tech It got here very near testing Samsung’s claims by folding and unfolding the Z Fold 7 manually 2,00,000 occasions over the course of 5 days.
How did the Z Fold 7 maintain up in the course of the real-life check?
The YouTuber discovered {that a} “reboot error” appeared in the course of the first 6,000 to 10,000 folds — and this error saved recurring after roughly each 10,000 folds.
Across the 46,000-fold mark, the Z Fold 7’s hinge began making some creaking noises, although the cellphone nonetheless labored as meant. Shockingly, in the course of the 75,000-fold mark, the Samsung gadget started leaking an unidentifiable “black liquid” from the hinge, which later disappeared. The liquid reappeared across the 1,05,000-fold mark, by which era the crease on the Z Fold 7 had additionally deepened.
A extra regarding situation surfaced across the 1,75,000-fold mark when the Z Fold 7’s audio system — together with the highest, backside, and earpiece — stopped working. The YouTuber additionally famous that the hinge had turn into noticeably smoother and the elasticity of the folding mechanism was misplaced.
Regardless of these hiccups, the Z Fold 7 really reached the two,00,000-fold milestone. The inside show confirmed no lifeless pixels, contact response remained correct, although the crease had turn into rather more pronounced.
