Pixel 10 Pro Fold battery explodes in a failed durability test

That damage led to the first battery explosion in the decade-long history of durability tests on JerryRigEverything’s YouTube channel. Over the last ten years, Nelson has tested virtually every mainstream smartphone on the market.

A catastrophic and easily predictable failure

Nelson says that the failure was easily predictable because Google hadn’t addressed the weaknesses he had spotted on its previous foldables. He says that both the original Pixel Fold and the Pixel 9 Pro Fold had the same weak antenna lines, and compared the Pixel 10 Pro Fold to a third Death Star with the same exhaust port.



Beyond the battery failure, Nelson also questioned the IP rating of the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, which failed the JerryRigEverything sand test. Despite the IP68 rating, fine particles made their way into the hinge, leading to crunching sounds. Nelson concluded that probably only the display is dust-proof, but not the hinge.



The outcome of the test is that the YouTuber called the Pixel 10 Pro Fold “by far the weakest folding phone I’ve ever tested.” Its result is far from what the Galaxy Z Fold 7 has achieved. Samsung’s latest foldable isn’t dust-proof, but it survived the sand test without letting debris in the hinge. More importantly, Samsung’s phone didn’t break while being bent.

A wake-up call for Google

I am not worried about dozens of Pixel 10 Pro Folds catching fire because very few people treat their phones in a way that resembles JerryRigEverything’s tests. However, the failure suggests that there’s a greater chance of dangerous incidents with the device, and Google should be worried about it.

What’s worse is that the company didn’t fix a well-known weakness. We’ve been complaining that smartphone design is getting boring, but when things go from aesthetics to safety, the nature of the problem becomes completely different.

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