Samsung launched new foldable smartphones earlier this month, including the Galaxy Z Fold8. If you didn’t know it was a Samsung device, you might look at it and think it’s Apple’s foldable, since it matches the iPhone Ultra rumors so well.
The Z Fold8 is probably the closest competitor to the foldable iPhone Ultra, which makes iFixit’s teardown of Samsung’s smartphone an interesting read. Will Apple’s foldable have the same issues as the Z Fold8, or has Apple fixed the issues plaguing foldable smartphones?
Hinges have been a point of failure on foldable smartphones, and it’s a design problem that Samsung hasn’t been able to fix. The Fold8 has an IP48 dust and water penetration rating, so it’s water resistant, but not dust resistant. It’s difficult to keep dust away from a smartphone, and when dust gets inside, it clogs the hinge mechanism and it fails.
iFixit ran a dust test on the Z Fold8, putting particles in the hinge. This caused “really horrible cracking and grinding noises” and then the device would no longer open normally. The dust that got into the hinge stayed outside most of the sealed parts of the phone, but if a foldable smartphone doesn’t fold, it’s still a major problem.
An IP4X dust rating means the Z Fold8 is resistant to particles 1mm or larger, but as iFixit found, many sand and dust particles are smaller than that. iFixit said the beach sand was 0.16mm and the powder used was 0.04mm.
Samsung used a new hinge design for the Z Fold8 and added a titanium-reinforced display structure that helps the screen open flatter, but it couldn’t get rid of the crease completely. Foldable creases may become more visible over time as the device is opened and closed, and a recent Tom’s guide The review states that the Z Fold8’s crease became more visible after just seven days.
iFixit was not impressed with the repairability of the Z Fold8 and gave it a repairability rating of 4/10. The frame around the interior screen broke into pieces when removing it, and there is no way to access the hinge without removing the screen. The batteries are also not easy to replace as it requires removing the outer screen. “It’s an expensive and painful repair, even when everything goes well,” iFixit said.
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The Z Fold8 has the appearance of a tablet with a 5.5-inch screen when closed and a 7.6-inch screen when opened. Most of Samsung’s previous foldable devices have been tall and narrow, but this one is closer to an iPad mini and its dimensions almost match those rumored for Apple’s foldable.
Apple waited to make a foldable iPhone because it wanted a device with minimal creases. Rumors suggest it uses a display panel created by Samsung Display and liquid metal for the hinge, as well as an optically transparent adhesive to make as much of the crease disappear as possible.
iFixit will likely do the same hinge test when the foldable iPhone comes out, and we’ll know if Apple has “fixed” the fold and hinge problem or if it will face the same issues. The foldable iPhone Ultra will be showcased at Apple’s annual event in September alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models.
Google’s new Pixel 11 Pro Fold has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating with a gearless hinge design, so it will likely fare better than the Z Fold8 in a dust exposure test. It will launch on August 20.
