Galaxy S9 durability test has some good news and bad news
Smartphones are fragile things, and they only seem to be getting less durable. This is especially true with Samsung's Galaxy S like of phones, which last year adopted the company's Infinity Display across all models. While the Infinity Display looks good, the fact that it wraps around the edges of the device doesn't really instill much confidence when it comes to overall durability, and that showed in the Galaxy S8.
Now that the Galaxy S9 is available, it's time to put it through its paces, and SquareTrade is doing just that. In a new video published today, SquareTrade puts the Galaxy S9 through the wringer, subjecting it to a number of tests meant to discover the phone's overall durability. The results aren't very encouraging if you were hoping for a durable smartphone, but there is some good news in the end.
READ MORE: Galaxy S9 Review
SquareTrade begins with your run-of-the-mill drop test. In the video, we see the Galaxy S9 and S9+ dropped from a height of six feet, both face-up and face-down. In all cases, the phone showed some form of damage on the first drop, whether that was something simple like hairline cracks, or something far more severe, such as a shattered display with loose glass.
In the bend test, SquareTrade discovered that the standard Galaxy S9 bent at 230 pounds of pressure, while it took 210 pounds to get the Galaxy S9+ to bend. Then we came to the tumble test, which subjected both phones to a rough ride in a glass and metal box for 60 seconds. Both phones took damage from during this test, so be sure to stay vigilant and make sure your phone doesn't take a trip through the dryer.
In the end, SquareTrade gives the Galaxy S9 a durability score of 71 – which represents medium risk of damage – while the Galaxy S9+ received a 76, or medium-high risk of damage. The company notes that the Galaxy S9 is more durable than the iPhone X and the Galaxy S8, which is certainly a bit of good news in an otherwise discouraging round of testing. Still, it's important to remember that the Galaxy S9 took damage after a single drop, so if you're planning to buy one, don't expect it to stand up to a lot of abuse.