The Display on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip Isn’t so Durable After All

Samsung announced the company’s second-generation foldable device, the Galaxy Z Flip, last week. The $1440 phone launched along with Samsung’s new line of Galaxy S20 devices, but Samsung made a huge deal about the Galaxy Z Flip, as you’d expect.

The company’s newest foldable phone comes with a brand-new design on the outside, and it just looks way more polished than the original Galaxy Fold. More importantly, the device features Samsung’s new Ultra Thin Glass rather than the plastic display on Samsung’s Galaxy Fold. The new display is supposed to feel and look better than the display of the original Galaxy Fold, and it was supposed to be more durable, too.

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But as it turns out, the new Ultra Thin Glass on the Galaxy Z Flip isn’t so durable after all. YouTuber JerryRigEverything did a durability test on the device, and it crumbled just as easily as the Galaxy Fold (and also the Motorola Razr). The display performed so poorly on the test that the YouTuber even went as far as claiming that Samsung may not be using real glass on the device, and it could instead be using a glass-polymer hybrid.

“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,” a Samsung representative told The Verge in response to the story. Like the Galaxy Fold, Samsung will also allow users to get a one-time screen replacement for $119, and users can also get a free screen protector for the Galaxy Z Flip from select stores.

So the bottom line here is that even though Samsung is advertising the Galaxy Z Flip’s display as a real glass display, it’s just as fragile as the plastic displays on other foldable devices, and the company really isn’t confident with the display’s durability.