Samsung robots subjected the Galaxy Fold to 200,000 folds

[Cal Jeffrey]

In context: How many times per day do you access your phone? Ten times? Twenty? Fifty? Its a legitimate question when you are thinking about releasing (or buying) a $2,000 phone with a foldable screen. How many times can that screen fold without breaking? Samsung built robots to find out.

Samsung made a splash at its Unpacked event last month by unveiling the Galaxy Fold. Although the device does not even release until next month, the Korean phone maker is already at work on two more folding smartphones.

The real question on a lot of people’s minds is: how will these screens hold up to repeated folding and unfolding? To find out Samsung has created specially designed robots for stress testing the Galaxy Fold’s screen limits.

If you have ever bent a piece of wire over and over until it snapped in half, you have observed the stress that repeated bending can create. To ensure that the phone (and its screen in particular) were ready for market Samsung ran several rounds of folding tests with its robots. The video above shows them in action, and it is somewhat mesmerizing.

One round of testing took a full week and subjected the phones to more than 200,000 folds. This number is equivalent to a user opening and closing the phone 100 times a day for five years. Presumably, most of the phones passed the tests since the company is going ahead with it and the other planned devices. However, Samsung was not forthcoming with a failure rate for the screens.

Nonetheless, it’s pretty cool watching the robots work, and it gives an even better look at how the hinge mechanism works and what the phone looks like in action.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/79398-samsung-robots-subjected-galaxy-fold-200000-folds.html

 

[p51d007]

"controlled" environment. Now, how will it handle being left in a cold or hot automobile?
Humidity & temperature can have an effect on how it folds.

 

[Evernessince]

"controlled" environment. Now, how will it handle being left in a cold or hot automobile?
Humidity & temperature can have an effect on how it folds.

Even if it does accelerate degradation, 100 times per day for 5 years leaves them some wiggle room. I expect actual use will be much less.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

After 200,001 folds...you're pretty much on your own.

 

[PEnnn]

I am sure some people will try to fold the other way and then blame the robots

 

[Uncle Al]

As much as teenagers are in and out of that, they could max that number out in a few months. Better to go for 200,000,000 ...... that would get them to the next upgrade anyway ......

 

[Aus spot]

Perfect folds everytime. Not going to happen in real life. Even slight angles of force in closing are going to affect it big time.

Like anything new, never buy the first generation.

 

[VitalyT]

I'm betting that when in a cold environment, the screen can easily break. It's just basic physics.

 

[amghwk]

Let's just wait for the suckers to get the first gen foldable devices and see what's all the fuss about.

 

[ShagnWagn]

This is a fake test. Why? Because it does not test them *with age*. These are brand new devices. They are also not tested at real world usage temps. Let's seem them do this at 32f and 95f. They cannot make this claim as a real world test.

What I was not able to tell is if *each one* was 200,000 folds, or say 200 of them at 1,000 folds.

 

[meicol]

This is a fake test. Why? Because it does not test them *with age*. These are brand new devices. They are also not tested at real world usage temps. Let's seem them do this at 32f and 95f. They cannot make this claim as a real world test.

What I was not able to tell is if *each one* was 200,000 folds, or say 200 of them at 1,000 folds.

Each complete folding action takes about 3 seconds.
20 x min, 1200 x hr, 28800 for day,
201600 in a week

 

[G0DofPaiN]

I'm waiting for a foldable phone that can fold both ways with good battery life, that doesn't break and has decent price , I'll probably have to wait another 5 years or so.

 

[ShagnWagn]

Each complete folding action takes about 3 seconds.
20 x min, 1200 x hr, 28800 for day,
201600 in a week

Thanks. I guess I did not read in the article it said this.

That is about how many times this guy at my work coughs, except every 10 seconds. His cough is so loud, it echos off the walls - it's like a firecracker going off. In just the 9 hours I have to be around him at work, in four years I've had to hear him cough about 2,000,000 times...

I would be much more impressed by a phone that doesn't get a screen cracked than one that can fold... I swear they made these curved glass phones more prone to break on purpose.

 

[netman]

After 200,001 folds...you're pretty much on your own.

After 200,001 folds the phone breaks in two so you would end up having two cell phones...lol!

 

[wiyosaya]

This is a fake test. Why? Because it does not test them *with age*. These are brand new devices. They are also not tested at real world usage temps. Let's seem them do this at 32f and 95f. They cannot make this claim as a real world test.

What I was not able to tell is if *each one* was 200,000 folds, or say 200 of them at 1,000 folds.

The mere act of putting anything through a torture test like this ages the unit under test.

As I see it, it is highly unlikely that they would take 200 phones, fold them 1,000 times and claim that the screens survived 200,000 folds. If they did, they would be asking for a fraud lawsuit.