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Samsung’s Galaxy S9 proves very durable in test, but it’s much harder to repair [Video]

Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will start shipping to customers later this week, and one question on the minds of many is the durability of these new devices. Samsung has made claims that these devices are more durable than last year’s Galaxy S8, but with similar builds, there have been doubts. Now, tests are seemingly confirming Samsung’s claims.

As usual, JerryRigEverything put the device through its paces to see just how much torture it could endure. This included scratching the phone with various levels of hardness as rated by the Mohs’ hardness scale. Like with flagships, it took a level 6 pick to scratch it at all, with deep scratches only coming from level 7. The glass on the back held up similarly well, but the fingerprint sensor scratched very easily, but still worked afterward.

This test also put the phone through a “burn test” which puts an open flame to the screen. The S9 survives this with minimal aftereffects. Aside from that, the phone also went through a bend test, through which it survived extremely well. This is thanks to the stronger aluminum as well as the thicker Gorilla Glass panels.

Unfortunately, this extra durability also makes the phone harder to repair. iFixit tore down the Galaxy S9+ to see just how much work would need to go into a repair, and the results weren’t great.

The S9+ earned a repair score of 4 out of 10, meaning you should absolutely leave repair work to professionals, even for small things like a battery replacement. For more details, check out iFixit’s full repair guide.


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