Here we are with a fully intact Galaxy Fold 3. Having survived my rather strenuous durability
test, it's time to take this Fold 3 apart and see how it works from the inside. We'll see how
Samsung has made this thing ipx8 water resistant. Did they use a hydrophobic circuit board coating
or just normal ingress point sealings? There's only one way to find out. I've had a few people
ask about the screen protector on the inner screen of the Galaxy Fold 3. If you remember,
Samsung very specifically says not to remove the protective film on the large main screen, which
to me makes it seem like it's not an optional or temporary layer of protection - it's mandatory.
However, for the sake of science I think that we can indeed see what happens when we remove
that layer. I'll take off my Teardown Skin first since once we're done here I'm pretty
sure this Fold 3 will never look the same. So if you want a transparent Teardown Skin for
your own phone or tablet, I'll leave a link down in the description. Let's get started.
[Intro]
Let's start with the main screen. Obviously this would be the wrong place to start if we wanted the
phone to survive, but since your morbid curiosity led you to click this video and subscribe to my
channel, let's just see how far we get from this side, you know, back to that science thing. With
previous versions of the Fold, the top surface was a rubbery layer that was difficult to remove. This
time around it's a thin piece of plastic that is actually rather easy to take off.
I can tell it's high quality and supposed to be there and
probably won't fall off on its own, but at the same time it does come off pretty easy.
It also uses actual adhesive and not just static to hold itself in place,
like we saw in the exterior temporary plastics. By removing this top layer we have also removed
the damage inflicted by my level 2 and 3 Mohs hardness picks during that durability test.
The surface of the center folding screen is now as pristine as the day it was made.
But once again, my level 2 pick and fingernail can still make short work of the surface.
It's good to know though that there is a sacrificial layer of plastic on top of the rest of
the plastic. Just like with the fold 1 and 2 there is still a black plastic bumper around the edge of
the flexible display. Where the bumpers meet in the middle there's also a thin strip of rubber
which I imagine is one of the many components working to keep dust and rocks out of the
complex gear mechanisms that make up the hinge. It might be my imagination but it
does seem like this bumper is more permanent than last year. It is very difficult to remove.
Time to get serious.
I'll use some heat on the bumper to see if we can soften whatever glue is holding it in place,
but even then I gotta peel it like a potato instead of it coming up on its own.
Finally with the bumper shaved we can try peeling up the screen. I'll attempt to remove it in one
piece by first slipping my pry tool underneath the metal back supporting layer. The main problem we
are going to encounter though is that I'm not sure where the ribbon connectors are located underneath
this layer, so if I accidentally slice into one of those while lifting up the flexible screen,
it's curtains for this display. The problem with the edge protector being off now is
that if anything happens to accidentally touch that edge, the screen gets destroyed.
Smart move of Samsung to make that bumper permanent. Something
tells me that we aren't going to be successful in removing the screen in one piece anymore,
but at least we can still check it for the ultra thin glass.
Samsung didn't really talk much about their thin layer of glass underneath the plastic this year,
and they don't even mention it on the Fold 3 spec page on their website either. Probably
because there just isn't much to talk about, but it is still definitely a part of the display.
The crispy super thin layer of glass is right underneath the main rubbery plastic layer.
We'll have to check out the other layers on the
screen once we get this thing opened up and the waterproofing analyzed.
The inner display be tripping, but the outer display is still working like normal.
I'll shut the phone down and we can add some heat to remove the back glass and the front screen.
Crazy that 75 of the surface of this phone is covered with pixels. I can take off the rear
glass panel first. Some heat in my trusty razor knife can slice through that softened adhesive
and my suction cup can lift it up and off. This is harder than it looks, and I'm taking special
care with my knife so that the angle doesn't cut the battery or ribbons laying around the edges.
The screen is a little more difficult since the bezels are so tiny. One touch with my razor
blade to those pixels and this front screen will end up just like that center screen.
The long edge is easiest to get underneath and I can just slice around under the glass
to get rid of that adhesive. Once again this is harder than it looks.
Finally, with all the adhesive detached, the screen is loose and still amazingly turns on.
I can unplug the singular ribbon cable connecting it to the motherboard and set it off to the side
giving us access to both halves of the Fold 3 and the 29 screws holding everything together.
In order for us to see if the motherboard is hydrophobic, we need to remove the black plastics.
The top portion contains the upper stereo loudspeaker with its foam balls.
And on the left side we can remove the plastics containing the wireless charger,
which I mean, for me personally would look way cooler if they left the copper coils visible.
I'll unplug the two batteries just like little Legos.
And of course, remove the SIM card tray so we can get access to the SIM card slot
which is on its own cute little motherboard. The bottom loudspeaker comes out next. This phone is
super modular which is kind of nice. The bottom loudspeaker has two sets of balls that's unique.
I'll pop off the two ribbons that connect the halves of the phone together along with one of
the screen ribbons, and then we get our first look at the smaller of the two motherboards. At first
glance this thing does not look hydrophobic. The hydrophobic boards usually have a shiny coating
on top that helps protect the components, but we'll analyze it a little closer in a second.
The front-facing selfie camera is 10 megapixels and does not have any optical image stabilization.
I'll remove the charging port plastics, then the two ribbons that join up the halves again along
with three screws that hold down the charging port board. For those of you keeping track at home
we've now removed 32 screws. The charging port does have a red rubber ring around the opening
to help keep water out. We'll look for more ingress protections in a second. The motherboard
has a few more ribbon cables along with one of our 5G antennas. 5G is what the government uses
to read your mind... Just kidding, all they need is Facebook. The other 5G antenna is over here,
and this one emits cerebral wave inhibitors that slow your brain and
keep you misinformed. I'm just kidding, that's also Facebook.
There are three more screws on the motherboard bringing our total number of screws to 35.
Does it feel like Dora the Explorer when I count screws like that?
Or more like some adult version of Sesame Street? With the motherboard up and out of the phone, we
get a close-up look at the cameras. The top camera being a 12 megapixel ultra wide angle with no OIS.
The main center camera does have OIS along with the telephoto camera right below it.
It also has the optical image stabilization.
Now for that hydrophobic coating. This is just a rumor of course, Samsung hasn't specifically said
how they've managed to achieve that ipx8 rating. The ipx8 means that it's water resistant up to
one and a half meters deep for 30 minutes. The x part of the rating means there's no
protection against dust. With my handy dandy water dripper...what is this Blue's Clues?...
We can drip some tap water onto the board to see if the droplet will cling to the surface.
If the water clings then it's not hydrophobic. And it looks like the water is indeed sticking
to the surface of the board which means it's not coated and not protected against water if water
gets inside, just like most other smartphones out there. The water protection for the Fold 3
are probably just built into the frame. The only hydrophobic board I've come across in my travels
was a waterproof pair of headphones from a company that's long since ceased to exist,
but you can see how the water just beads up and rolls off the board without sticking to anything.
So hydrophobic circuit boards do exist, just not on this Galaxy Fold 3. The water continues
to grip the board even when upside down. Of course it might be coated in something
else that's not hydrophobic but still corrosion resistant, but Samsung has not been specific.
So how does Samsung keep all the water on the outside? In order to find that out we need to
remove the batteries. I've switched the clear liquid inside my handy dandy dripper to isopropyl
alcohol so I can let it seep in behind the batteries to start dissolving the adhesive holding
the batteries to the phone. While the alcohol is doing its thing I can gently lift up the battery
with two pry tools. This battery is a 2,280 milliamp hour capacity, while the other battery
is a 2,120 milliamp hour, which if you're keeping track at home, is a total of 4,400 milliamp hours.
Now as far as waterproofing goes, obviously we had that red rubber ring around the charging port that
at least covers one hole. Then we have the power button and fingerprint reader over here,
which has a rather sophisticated rubber gasket filling up the entry point behind that button.
Then there are two microphone holes up here at the top. Each of them have a water screen laid
off to the side of the shaft that helps keep water out. The top loudspeaker grill has more rubber
and the same waterproofing mesh, while the pin for the SIM card tray has its own red rubber gasket.
And the SIM card itself obviously has the rubber ring around the opening,
and the bottom of the phone has another large screen and even more rubber for
the lower loudspeaker. But the coolest innovation by far is how Samsung managed
to waterproof the inner ribbons that connect each half of the phone through the hinge.
It looks like each of those ribbons have a red rubber gasket lined with the world's smallest
bead of clear silicone - the same clear stuff you would caulk around your shower or windows
to keep water out. They've added it all around the edges of each of these four ribbon entry points.
Super cool. While the boards themselves might not be hydrophobic, the entry points for either half
of this phone will indeed keep the phone water resistant. Obviously I wouldn't go dunking my
$1800 phone in water for kicks and giggles since water damage is still not covered under warranty,
but it is still nice knowing that the ipx8 protection is there for the accidental immersions.
Let's take a closer look at the flexible display and the hinge of the Fold 3. The display is made
up of a bunch of different layers. We've already seen the top plastic and the second layer of
plastic, and the third layer of ultra thin glass which is followed by the pixels themselves.
Behind everything there are large metal plates
with a super cool rubber backing and metal slat joint for the hinge,
which I assume supports the curve of the screen while keeping dust from entering the hinge.
The hinge, as you'll see in a second, is rather exposed once the screen is removed.
Just above the metal plate layer is the digitizer layer, which can detect the copper coils from
inside the Fold's S-pin and pinpoint the stylus when it's not even touching the surface of the
screen. I'm going to be honest this phone, the Fold 3, is 100 percent the most technologically
advanced smartphone on the planet, by far, pushing the absolute limits of the smartphone form factor
while doing it in a way that is still surprisingly durable. Like we still
have the underscreen camera to look at, and yeah, it might all cost as much as two phones,
but it does have two halves and by that math, the price is relatively justified.
Finally let's take apart the hinge. As you can see with the screen gone, the hinge is
very much exposed. That rubber strip at each end and the rubber seam is pretty important.
I'll peel off the black tape over the screw locations.
25 more screws brings our total to...don't do it... 60.
And we can finally get a close-up look at how the hinge works. Not a whole lot
has changed through the generations. We still have these super strong springs on the side,
and the gears in the center that keep things lined up when it's moving between being opened and
closed. The left and right sides along with the top and bottom are pretty identical to each other.
You might have noticed as well the five screws in the center. These are only there to hold the
metal back spine to the hinges... that brings us to 65. And of course, Samsung still has their
stiff bristles along the edge of the spine to also help keep the dust and dirt out from the complex
inner workings of that hinge, since any dust or dirt getting inside would be pretty catastrophic.
It's pretty well protected and as we saw from the durability test where I covered it in dust
and dirt, that protection translates well into real life scenarios. This year we've seen gaming
phones snap in half left and right, while Samsung is over here with a near invincible masterpiece of
technological design. Yeah, the center screen is still plastic and that won't change anytime soon,
but the phone as a whole is stronger than Oscar the Grouch's trash can.
This video is sponsored by the color blue the number four,
and definitely go buy my Teardown Skin for your phone with the link in the description
because there's no way this $1800 device is going back together in one piece.
Let me know what surprised you most about this phone down in the comments. And come hang out
with me on Instagram and Twitter. Thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.