Youtuber JerryRigEverything compiles the ranking of the smartphones that resist the most to mechanical damage: at the top we find an outsider
2018 was a year full of new smartphones, both high-end and entry level, it will be the same in 2019. But the year just past also saw the average price of cell phones rise, costing more and more. Because of this, users today want smartphones that last a long time and can withstand minor household mishaps.
But what is the most durable smartphone among those launched on the market in 2018? This question was answered by Zack Nelson, the youtuber of the JerryRigEverything channel famous for his tough tests on smartphones and other electronic devices. Just so you know, he’s the one who discovered that 2018 iPad Pros bend with disarming ease. Nelson’s job is precisely to “break phones,” or at least try, to show his viewers which ones are more durable and which are less so. Once again this year on JerryRigEverything, the ranking of the most rugged 2018 smartphones has come out, with promotions and failures.
How JerryRigEverything tests
Zack Nelson mostly performs mechanical tests, different from those that manufacturers perform before putting smartphones on the market. These are tests that mimic typical real-life situations, like keys in your pocket that can scratch the screen or like when we have our smartphone in our back pants pocket and sit down. For example, Zack with a box cutter has fun scratching the body and screen of smartphones and tablets, with a lighter he tries to set fire to the display for 30 seconds, with an awl he tries to cut the screen and the camera, with his hands he tries to bend the devices to see if they break. Finally, Zack disassembles the device to see if it is easy to repair once sent to service.
What is the most durable smartphone of 2018?
The tests show that the most durable budget smartphone is the Nokia 7 Plus, followed by the Xiaomi Pocophone F1, while among the more expensive ones wins the Kyocera DuraForce Pro 2 (which is, however, a smartphone built specifically to resist shocks and scratches). The Nokia 7 Plus together with the Nokia 6.1 is also the easiest to repair, on the other hand the least repairable smartphone is the iPhone XS Max, which once opened is very complicated to disassemble. On the contrary, among the “beautiful inside” phones Zack rewards, in order from first to third, the Google Pixel 3 Transparent Edition, the Razer Phone 2 and the LG G7. The least durable smartphones turned out to be the Oppo Find X and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.
There is then a separate ranking that Zack Nelson dedicates to the most innovative smartphones of 2018, that is, those with an internal and external design that differs from the competition and that can help the phone last longer. The winner in this ranking was the Vivo Nex S Clear Edition, with a retractable camera and a polished metal body and a curved glass on the back.