Is Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra as durable as you expect a $1,400 phone to be?

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra offers an impressive spec sheet, but it definitely comes at a price. At $1,400, it sets new standards for traditional smartphone pricing.

Spending that much money for a smartphone isn’t a trivial matter, so you’d expect the device to withstand life’s everyday happenings. Fortunately, that seems to be the case according to the latest JerryRigEverything video (seen above).

The video shows the Galaxy S20 Ultra being subjected to all sorts of torture as part of a durability test, starting with a scratch test. The test sees the phone display subjected to picks based on the Mohs hardness scale. And we start seeing scratches at level six, which is par for the course for a traditional flagship phone featuring Gorilla Glass 6. It’s also much better than the Galaxy Z Flip, which started scratching at level two and could be scratched with a fingernail.

A tank of a smartphone?

Another JerryRigEverything staple is the lighter test, as the host held a flame to the screen for roughly 30 seconds. But he noted that any ill effects “eventually” disappeared.

The host then scratched the area above the ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor, but found that it was still able to read fingerprints. This is likely due to the phone’s sensor using ultrasonic waves rather than being reliant on optical scanning (i.e. seeing the finger).

Otherwise, the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s durability was also tested by bending it, and it did give way ever so slightly. Thankfully, this didn’t result in any cracks or other similar ill effects at first glance.

What about drop testing?

This wasn’t the only Galaxy S20 Ultra durability test seen on YouTube, as PhoneBuff conducted a drop test versus the iPhone 11 Pro Max (h/t: Engadget). Dropping the phones back-first onto concrete resulted in a shattered iPhone back, while the S20 Ultra emerged unscathed (albeit with scuffs on the camera bump).

The second round of drop testing saw the phones dropped corner-first, with both phones being scuffed as a result. But the iPhone was declared the winner due to suffering fewer scratches on its stainless steel frame versus the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s frame.

Finally, a face-down drop saw the iPhone’s screen crack, with spiderwebbing extending across the display. Meanwhile, Samsung’s display only cracked on the left curved edge. Needless to say, the Galaxy S20 Ultra earned the win here.

Either way, both of these videos might not be representative of real-world experience. But it’s still good to know that you don’t have to be 100% gentle with your $1,400 flagship phone.