Moto Razr's hinge claimed to give way after 27,000 folds in durability test

Motorola’s clamshell folding smartphone was recently put through a rigorous bending test by CNET to fold the phone thousands of times.

According to the  highlights from the livestream, the Razr’s hinge started acting wonky after little over 27,000 folds. Based on the test, if you were to fold and unfold your phone 80 times a day, the Razr wouldn’t last a year.

Getting a full two years out of the Razr would require that you fold and unfold the phone only 37 times a day, which is much lower than the average. According to a 2017 study, average Americans check their phones 80 times a day.

Last year, CNET put the updated Samsung Galaxy Fold through the same bending test. The Galaxy Fold lasted for 14 hours on the machine, recording a commendable 1,19,380 folds. If we go by the average American user, that’s over four years of use. The Foldbot was originally designed to test the durability of the Galaxy Fold. However, CNET modified it for the Razr with the goal to reach 1,00,000 folds.

The host had to cut the livestream short when Razr’s hinge gave way after almost four hours of testing. It is worth noting that the Razr's screen worked properly after the hinge had given way, whereas the Galaxy Fold’s screen shattered by the end of the test, but it lasted much longer.

However, many YouTube users also questioned the authenticity of the test. Some pointed out that the quick and constant folding and unfolding of the phone would have caused heat to generate across the hinges that would have made the phone to give way as seen from the livestream. Others would have questioned the way the machine was holding the phone as it folded it.