Razr 40 Ultra hinge fails in front of Galaxy Z Flip 5 on 1st round of live fold test
Folding tests for foldable phones have been a thing ever since Samsung released the original Galaxy Fold in 2019. But while some independent testers and content creators devised their own (arguably faulty) folding machines, others are doing things differently. Mrkeybrd went above and beyond and humanized the testing process by having actual people perform thousands (and hundreds of thousands) of folds by hand in front of a camera.
Such a test is happening right now! As of this writing, Mrkeybrd’s team members are taking turns folding and unfolding the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra by hand on a YouTube live stream. It looks like a daunting task for which not many would volunteer, but it’s all in the name of science! And this method ensures that the foldable phones and their hinges don’t suffer unnecessary additional stress.
Check out the live stream below and join us after for a brief recap. You may want to learn that the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra was the first (and so far, only) device of the two to suffer a hardware failure.
Story continues after the video
Motorola Razr 40 Ultra’s hinge broke at around the 40,000 fold mark
Although the folding-unfolding test was not over at the time of writing, the first failure had already happened. And it was the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra that dropped the ball first.
Specifically, the Razr 40 Ultra’s hinge experienced its first failure around the 40,000 fold-unfold mark in the live stream. It wasn’t a critical failure, and the phone still worked, but the integrity of the hinge dropped to where the phone no longer folded completely shut (image below). Meanwhile, at the same ~40,000 mark and counting, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 experienced no such issues.
It will be interesting to see how the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip 5 will behave by the end of the live stream. The test might be concluded by the time you read this, but we will try to update the story with new details as they develop. As of publishing this article, Samsung won the first round, and Motorola’s hinge is causing problems. But the battle is not over, and anything can happen.
