Google’s Pixel 11 Pro Fold has gone through JerryRigEverything’s durability test, and while the latest foldable improves in some areas, it still breaks at the same structural weak point seen on Google’s previous three foldables.
Zack Nelson subjected the $1,899 foldable to his usual scratch, flame, dust, and bend tests before eventually pulling the phone apart.
One clear improvement is Google’s new ceramic cover-display material.
During the scratch test, the outer screen showed little damage at level 6 on the Mohs hardness scale, where conventional smartphone glass typically starts showing visible scratches. Deeper grooves appeared at level 7.
Google previously said the new cover material is three times more durable than before. The rear panel uses what Google calls a glass-fiber composite, although the durability test showed that it scratches relatively easily when subjected to a knife.
The biggest problem appeared during the bend test.
When force was applied in the opposite direction of the normal fold, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold cracked at both antenna lines in its frame.
That is particularly notable because the original Pixel Fold and Google’s following foldables have also failed around their antenna lines during JerryRigEverything’s tests.
The damage was severe enough that the front panel eventually popped away from the device and could be removed by hand.
There was at least one improvement over last year’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold. That device suffered a battery rupture during the same extreme durability test, while the Pixel 11 Pro Fold avoided a similar battery failure.
Google has strengthened several parts of its newest foldable, but the test suggests the frame around its antenna lines remains a structural weakness four generations into the company’s foldable lineup.
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