Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra passes extremely painful torture test
For a high-end phone, such as the Galaxy S21 Ultra, you can expect the manufacturer to have thought about the durability of the device. Whether this is also the case with Samsung’s most expensive S21 member? JerryRigEverything took the phone in his torture test and made the S21 Ultra sweat under the force of knives and flames.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Although the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is slightly cheaper than its predecessor, with a suggested retail price of 1,249 euros compared to 1,349 euros for the S20 Ultra, it remains an extremely expensive phone. With the question whether the device is worth its suggested retail price, Claudia went to work in the review of the Galaxy S21 Ultra last week. At the same time, the question arises as to whether the build quality is okay: Zach Nelson, aka JerryRigEverything, answered that question in his durability test – feel free to call it a torture test – for that device.
Gorilla Glass Victus
Nelson begins his testing as usual by testing the screen on the Galaxy S21 Ultra. This screen features the Gorilla Glass Victus protective layer, the successor to Gorilla Glass 6. Although the name of the protective layer is new, it has inherited many characteristics from the ‘sixth’ generation of Gorilla Glass. The screen thus still scratches at level six of the Mohs scale, and deeper scratches are visible from the seventh level. Corning, the manufacturer behind the tempered glass, previously announced that the new variant offers more protection if a phone falls.
The test is continued by damaging all sides of the device with his Stanley knife: as is known, the edges, as well as the camera module of the phone, are made of aluminum. Outside of the gigantic camera module, the back of the phone has frosted glass. Although a Stanley knife seems to leave scratches on it, it is precisely the remnants of the knife that wears away on the glass back.
Muscle strength vs. S21 Ultra
The final piece of the torture test includes the well-known burn test of the AMOLED screen on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, where the screen does not recover in this case, leaving a final green stain. This is striking, given that previous Samsung AMOLED displays appeared to withstand the heat of a flame and often – albeit partially – restored. Finally, Nelson puts all his muscle power to bend the S21 Ultra, to no avail.
While there is a very minimal bend visible in the housing during testing, this disappears once the torture test is terminated – no damage to the housing is found. Previously, JerryRigEverything took a closer look at several other phones, such as the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the OnePlus 7T – which had to ‘pay’ in the durability tests. Over the past year, Zach also took several foldable phones, such as the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and the Motorola Razr.
