Galaxy Z Flip iFixit Dust Test Could Raise More Durability Concerns

Foldable phones are fragile and expensive pieces of electronics but that only seems to tempt people more to find out just how much torture they can take. It turns out, not that much but each new generation is admittedly getting more resilient than the previous one. The Galaxy Z Flip, at least on stage, was touted to have addressed many of the issues found in the Galaxy Fold. Naturally, the folks over at iFixit couldn't help but put at least one of those claims to the test.

To be fair, Samsung never claimed that the Galaxy Z Flip is water or even dust resistant but it did make a lot of noise about the brush-like bristles that try to keep dust away from the hinge, one of the biggest points of entry and causes for concern with foldable phones. We already saw, courtesy of JerryRigEverything, that the brushes were located just as the ends of the hinge, unlike what Samsung's marketing vid seemed to imply. Now iFixit has put those bristles to the test to see if they even work at all.

iFixit's dust testing method is definitely not representative of real-world scenarios and accidents. Users, however, could still find themselves in closely similar situations where minute particles like dust and sand might gain entry into the phone. That's not even considering water, which may have an easier time flowing through the openings and cracks.

Alas, it seems those brushes didn't do their job at all and the Galaxy Z Flip was no much for iFixit's purple dust. Samsung also didn't seem to take any caution in protecting the other usual ingress points, like the speaker grille or the charging port. That said, it's puzzling that the brushes themselves look pretty clean, perhaps suggesting the dust came through other weak points.

iFixit has yet to do its usual teardown analysis but the phone may not be down for the count just yet. Hopefully, they will be able to shed a bit more light on the matter but, regardless of the conclusion, the Galaxy Z Flip requires just as much extra care as the Galaxy Fold. Regardless of what Samsung tries to say.