Fragile foldables? Check out our Honor Magic V3 torture tests

Ilandar , 3 hours ago

The fragility question over folding phones has always been about two things - the weaker inner displays and the long-term durability of the hinge after many actions. GSMArena don’t actually address either of these potential issues - the closest they get is “scratching” the plastic screen protector on the inner display with their fingernail. The hinge is “tested” by hanging a weight on the inner display and by being used as a hammer to hit a peg into the ground. After this complete waste of time, their conclusion is “kudos to Honor for making such a durable device”. If you’re going to bait views with titles like “fragile foldables” or “unbreakable?” at least actually make a genuine effort to test the durability issues that are unique to folding phones. No one gives a fuck about waterproofing or the fragility of the frame, these are not common issues on any high end smartphone these days.

1984 , 11 minutes ago

Yeah that article seems it’s written to convince new buyers how the phone can’t break, but anyone who owned phones knows that they don’t break by putting heavy things on the display. :)

limerod OP , 6 hours ago

So here’s what went down. We tested the water resistance, first in terms of immersion and then its ability to withstand water pressure. Then, we put it in a washing machine to verify a claim by Honor that it can survive something like this with no issue. Turns out, it was true. Sadly we didn’t have a hydraulic press handy to verify the other in-house test by the marker.

We then froze the Magic V3 inside a block of ice, to test its ability to withstand temperature extremes. The phone passed all of these tests with flying colors. We tried to scratch the folding screen’s applied plastic protector, and, well it did scratch, very easily, with fingernails only. It was just the replaceable protector, though, so not as bad as it sounds.

The Magic V3’s hinge probably got the worst treatment. We made it carry a 5kg weight, and it didn’t budge. We then used the phone as a hammer, denting it a little bit - but not impacting the normal operation. And finally we did some drop tests and we’re not going to spoil these for you - make sure you watch the video until the end to see the results.