The OnePlus 10 Pro smartphone snapped while being bent by the reviewer using just his hands. — Screenshot from YouTube/JerryRigEverything
OnePlus’ next flagship, the 10 Pro, accidentally became a foldable phone after it was snapped in half during a durability review.
Tech reviewer Zack Nelson, from the YouTube channel JerryRigEverything, posted a video subjecting the smartphone to his usual abuse: scratching the screen and chassis, burning the screen, then attempting to bend the phone.
The phone handled most of the abuse up to expectations: the glass display only being scratched by blades above level 6 on the Mohs scale, and burning after 40 seconds of exposure to a lighter.
(The Mohs scale refers to mineral hardness, with materials typically only being able to be scratched by an even harder material. Level 6 is the typical hardness of glass, while above 8 is similar to sapphire used in high-end watches).
The optical fingerprint sensor, which is part of the screen, also continued to work even after being scratched.
During the bare handed bend test, the smartphone’s back casing – made of textured glass – cracked when it was bent backwards, with most of the lines appearing higher up on the spine, just below the camera array.
Nelson then bent it the other way, causing the phone to snap at the cracked point, killing the display. He noted that oddly, the camera flash continued to work.
He explained that the fragility of the design appeared to be due to the placement of the large 5,000mAh battery, which caused the pressure to be applied to the centre of the phone where it was supported mainly by the side rails of the aluminium chassis.
He suggested users to keep their phones in their front pockets, as sitting on the phone while in the back pocket could apply enough pressure to break it.
