SquareTrade has decided to drop-test Samsung’s brand new flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S10 series. SquareTrade has been performing such tests on Samsung’s flagships for years now, and for the Galaxy S10 series, the company decided to use its drop robot.
The company documented its tests, and you can check out the results in the video that is embedded down below. That video has a duration of around a minute and a half, and in it, you’ll see Galaxy S10 phones being dropped both face-down, and face-up… on concrete.
The very first test SquareTrade opted to do is a face-down test with the Galaxy S10, S10+, and Galaxy S10e, a drop test from 6 feet. In the Galaxy S10’s case, the display cracked when dropped, and corner damage also occurred. The same happened to the Galaxy S10+, but in addition to that, its front glass also became loose.
The Galaxy S10e actually handled that fall the worst, which is quite surprising as it does not have a curved display, and it is the smallest one. The phone’s screen cracked, glass became loose, and the phone also suffered corner damage, same as its siblings. In addition to that, the phone’s display started malfunctioning after the drop.
Following the face down test, SquareTrade performed the back-down / face-up test with all three devices. The Galaxy S10’s back glass cracked when dropped, while corner damage was also visible. The Galaxy S10+’s back glass shattered completely, while it also became loose afterwards.
Once again, the Galaxy S10e handled the fall worse than its siblings. In addition to a shattered and loose glass on the back, the phone’s flash broke during the fall, while its camera lens cracked as well.
As you can see, the Galaxy S10 series is not exactly the most durable out there, but that was to be expected considering that these phones are made out of metal and glass, and are not exactly meant to be dropped around. In its video, SquareTrade mentions that it has seen similar results with the Galaxy S9 series, and Apple’s iPhone X handsets, as all of those cracked on the first drop, same goes for the front and back side.
The iPhone X became unusable after a single face-down drop, same as the Galaxy S10e. The Galaxy S10 and S10+ fared better than the iPhone XS Max, though. At the end of its video, SquareTrade teased the upcoming drop test of the Galaxy Fold, and that will be interesting to see. The company did not say when exactly will it release that test, but it is coming soon.
So, based on this test, it’s really easy to recommend all of you who own either of the Galaxy S10 devices to get a case, for protection, especially if you’re clumsy by nature. One drop on concrete and chances are your Galaxy S10 handset will be quite damaged. Luckily, there are tons of cases in the market that you can choose from, if you’re not willing to risk damaging your handset.