Samsung Galaxy Z Flip teardown finds the glass beneath a protective plastic layer

The JerryRigEverything durability test showed that the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip scratches like plastic – so where’s the glass? Zack’s complete teardown found it – it’s a layer underneath the plastic protective cover. Peeling off the plastic seriously damages the screen though and even causes the glass layer to crack.

So, scratch resistance is not among the advantages of using Ultra Thin Glass, you still need to be careful when using the phone. Samsung did improve on another weak point of foldable designs – the hinge.

The Hideaway Hinge has a completely new design. You can see the gears and springs that allow it to hold the phone at any angle towards the end of the video. Also, there are bristles meant to keep dust out – they are on the sides of the hinge mechanism as well as along the metal frame of the top and bottom halves (check out clarifying comment by Zack).

If you’re curious to see what’s inside the Galaxy Z Flip, but can’t stomach it’s complete destruction, watch this teardown video instead. Anyway, it’s quite an interesting design with a ribbon cable passing through the middle of the hinge, connecting the top and bottom halves of the phone.

The battery is split into two due to space and weight balancing constraints. The battery in the top half is small, 930mAh, the rest of 3,300mAh capacity is found in the bottom half, which also contains the Qi wireless charging coil, the USB-C port and loudspeaker.

The early sales of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip are going strong, yesterday Samsung ran out of stock in the Philippines, days after it sold out in the US. Check out our hands-on review for more details on the phone.