Galaxy Z Flip 5 vs. Moto Razr Plus live hand-folding test: Moto lost

Update: August 7, 2023 (04:54 AM ET): The Motorola Razr Plus vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 hand-folding test is still underway. However, the Moto phone is now out of the race. Its display broke down after about 120,000 folds. You can read about the results of the experiment here.

Original article: August 3, 2023 (2:16 AM ET): Tech YouTuber Mrkeybrd and his team are live testing the folding mechanism on the new Motorola Razr Plus and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 by hand. The experiment to see which phone breaks first is being livestreamed as of writing this article. The folders are now over 14 hours into their “Great Folding Test.”

The point of the folding test between the two new foldable phones is to see how long they last when humans fold them by hand versus a machine that folds them hundreds of thousands of times during lab tests.

“Smartphone producers seem to think consumers will be impressed by their ratings of 400,000+ folds, performed in a more controlled setting and most likely by a machine designed to fold the smartphone only in the way it was intended. But machines aren’t human,” the YouTubers write on their dedicated webpage for the test.

For your information, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is officially rated 200,000 folds by the Bureau Veritas certification company. Meanwhile, Motorola hasn’t shared any official details about the number of folds the Razr Plus can survive.

Both phones are currently intact in the ongoing human stress test, with over 30,000 folds each.

“Last year we saw humans push the Z Flip 3 past its manufacturer stated limits until it gave out at around 418,500 folds,” the YouTubers note on their website. You can read about that marathon Galaxy Z Flip 3 folding test here.

“This year, once we (hopefully) pass the manufacturer stated limits, we will be subjecting the phones to more varied tests – temperature, water, drop tests – the works.”