ASUS ROG Phone 5 Is The First Durability Test Casualty Of 2021

The first generation of gaming smartphones bore designs that reflected their PC counterparts, mixing ruggedness with a distinct beauty that gamers appreciate. Later iterations, however, have started to reflect more the design trends of mainstream smartphones, almost as if to hide their gaming identities. Compared to its predecessors, the ROG Phone 5 looks more like a regular high-end flagship but changing the formula may have caused some problems with the phone's durability in return.

JerryRigEverything's smartphone durability tests have almost become boring of late because devices have started to get tougher. Very few phones these days break and some that do show some damage, like the Pixel 5, miraculously remained functional. Fortunately for the YouTuber's viewers, some do still fail and some fail spectacularly. Of course, that's not good news for the makers and owners of those phones.

Cutting to the chase, the ROG Phone 5 didn't survive the durability test. Claiming to have a weaker force because he isn't using all his fingers, Zack Nelson still managed to bend the phone until it no longer functioned. Even a simple bend was enough to damage the phone's vibration engine on the first try.

Even without the bend test, the phone also somewhat failed the scratch test indirectly. Unlike other smartphones these days with in-display fingerprint scanners, the ROG Phone 5 consistently failed to detect Nelson's damaged thumbprints with just a few scratches over the sensor.

The YouTuber basically blames the structural compromises that were made by antenna lines and holes on the edge of the phone for how fragile it was. That said, those same elements were also present in older models, so that may not be the true reason for this catastrophic failure. The ROG Phone 5 may have skipped the unlucky for but, unfortunately, that didn't save it from an unlucky fate.