Bomb in Pants — Pixel 10 Pro Fold Caught Fire Right in JerryRigEverything's Hands!

The famous smartphone durability tester JerryRigEverything tried the Pixel 10 Pro Fold, and the smartphone managed to surprise him significantly. For the first time in 13 years, a smartphone caught fire right in his hands.

Pixel 10 Pro Fold — on Fire

JerryRigEverything tested all previous foldable smartphones from Google. All Pixel Folds were traditionally the worst smartphones among those tested by the enthusiast. The thing is, starting with the first Pixel Fold released in 2023, Google engineers placed plastic hinges in the metal frame of the smartphone at the same level opposite each other. Thus, the smartphone easily breaks along this line when even relatively minor force is applied. It works approximately like a specially weakened tear line, along which we tear off packaging bags.

Since falls, impacts, and exerting force to excessively open don't fall under warranty cases, Google decided not to worry about the smartphone's durability. After all, the more Pixels are destroyed, the fewer people will be upset 5-7 years later that the weak processor cannot support new versions of Android.

The Pixel 10 Pro Fold, as expected, relatively easily broke along the antenna boundary line. But when trying to fully bend the broken half, a characteristic hissing sound was heard, and smoke appeared. A characteristic damage appeared on the display, indicating contact with open flame or a hot object. If the smartphone's body had not already been decompressed, it's likely we would have heard a small explosion from a sharp chemical ignition.

After the incident, it is visible that the battery is mostly on the protected frame part and only its edge protrudes beyond the safe zone. Perhaps Google engineers increased or moved the battery by a few millimeters, and now it can hit the break.

Other

The external display is protected with Gorilla Glass Victus and withstands interaction with items up to 5 on the Mohs scale (Mohs scale). This is a normal indicator for modern smartphones and will withstand interaction with most household items, but common sand and certainly diamond rings and earrings will damage it without problems.

But the internal display hasn't changed. It gets damaged already at 2 (gypsum), meaning it receives irreversible damage from almost anything, including fingernails. But this is a characteristic feature for this form factor — if you need a display flexible enough for folding, prepare to constantly apply protective films on it.

Interestingly, to the left of the front camera there is a round area underneath which there's an emptiness, so when pressing there with a thin object, the display easily bends. This is the proximity and light sensor area, Google engineers did not cover it with an additional glass layer, so the smartphone got an 'invisible' vulnerability.

The enthusiast positively noted improved water and, for the first time, dust protection.

Competitive Environment

Samsung learns from mistakes, and the Galaxy Z Fold7 turned out to be surprisingly durable. JerryRigEverything, although slightly deformed the structure, could not break the smartphone with bare hands.

Conclusions

No one is insured against non-obvious design phase mistakes. The iPhone 6 once had precisely such a bendgate (though it didn't catch fire), and in subsequent generations, the manufacturer corrected it. But this negligence that Google allows itself is hard to remember with any other manufacturer. Even manufacturers from the Celestial Empire correct such critical mistakes. But Google has been ignoring the problem for three generations.

JerryRigEverything does not advise carrying the Pixel 10 Pro Fold in pants or leaving it unfolded unattended. The smartphone has a very vulnerable design and can cause burns or fires. The vulnerability has been known since the previous generation, but Google pays no attention to it. It is currently difficult to say whether the smartphone will massively self-ignite due to deformation and whether it can replicate the experience of the Galaxy Note7, after all, it is sold in much more modest runs.