- 22 hours ago
It is time to teardown the Samsung Z Fold 7. Head to https://www.surfshark.... or use code JERRYRIG at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Normally when I take apart Samsungs folding phones - the center screen does not survive. But today... We are going to take special care to remove the center screen and PROVE once and for all that I can handle Samsungs folding screens.
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TechTranscript
00:00Oh, that's not good. I promise there's a reason I lit my Fold 7 on fire, but we'll get to that
00:08in a second. In the last 6 years of taking apart folding phone screens, I have never been able to
00:15remove a fold screen and have it survive. That changes today. I cleaned off my desk for this,
00:20so you know we have some serious business to take care of. I'm locked in and focused,
00:25and we're going to prove once and for all that the soft folding Samsung screens can
00:29be removed successfully. As far as I know, no one else has succeeded in this procedure on the Fold 7.
00:35So if I can do it, that means my skills are unrivaled and I should take up brain surgery
00:41in my spare time. See, we know the folds have a soft inner screen, but not only is it soft,
00:46but also extremely fragile around the edges. Just like how the Death Star had its weakness at the
00:51exhaust port, every folding phone has its weaknesses around the sides where all the sandwiched layers
00:56are stacked up. If dust ever gets inside this plastic bezel, it's curtains for the fold.
01:01Luckily, these black plastic borders are extremely well attached, so much so that it's very difficult
01:06to remove them. And they have some additional rubbery sealant that probably helps with the
01:11IP48 rating. And it's good to know now that they'll never come off on their own accidentally.
01:15And like, yeah, there's also not really a reason anyone would need to remove this center screen
01:20unless it's already broken. I just want to put myself to the test to be better than all the rest.
01:25And now that the bezel is completely removed, Taylor said it best,
01:28it is never, ever, ever getting back together. I've been this far before though, so we haven't
01:34accomplished anything great yet. And now I'll add some heat which will hopefully soften the adhesive
01:39a bit under the screen. The reason I feel like we will be successful this time around is because
01:43Samsung supposedly has added a titanium backplate to the flexible screen under the parts that aren't
01:49supposed to be flexible of course. And as long as I stay under that titanium sheet and I don't twist
01:56or cause torsion to the screen, it should be just fine. It can bend like a hot dog or a hamburger,
02:01but not both at the same time. I also know that from the other Fold 7 teardowns on YouTube,
02:06like from iFixit or the Phone Repair Guru, that the sensitive electronics on this Fold 7,
02:12like the ribbon cables, are along the left side of the screen. So I'll remove that portion last.
02:17Learning from other people's mistakes is the best way to succeed. I'll drip some isopropyl alcohol
02:22into the gap which does an amazing job at dissolving the adhesive without adding any
02:26additional stress to the screen. And we're officially halfway there. Maneuvering this single flap of
02:32screen you can see how thin it is, and it's amazing that everything appears to still be functional.
02:37I'll check for sure in a second, but for now though more alcohol is required, and some extremely
02:43gently forceful pulling, making sure the sensitive ribbons that are folded along the left side don't
02:48get kinked or yoinked, since we're dealing with something basically as fragile as a piece of paper.
02:54And would you look at that.
02:59You can tell by how much my hands are shaking how shocked I am that this actually worked.
03:04Maybe I am the best that's ever been. Maybe I'm the king of smartphone repairs.
03:09If I can successfully remove the display on Fold 7, what can't I do?
03:13I think the next logical step is obviously global domination.
03:18Ah, sorry about that. I don't know what happened there. Let's make sure everything still works
03:22before we get too far ahead of ourselves. You might have thought I was filming this
03:26teardown in the USA this whole time, but psych, I was actually in Austria. Or that's at least what the
03:31government thinks thanks to today's sponsor Surfshark. I can create a VPN and change the location of my
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03:58Surfshark also comes with a built in antivirus. I'm super shocked that this screen is still working.
04:03Plus it allows me to set up a whole new alternate identity to protect my real name and real email
04:08from scammers, spammers, and strangers. And of course Uncle Sam. Online security starts with a VPN,
04:14and Surfshark makes it effortless with 24 7 no log protection. You can try it yourself risk free with
04:20a 30 day money back guarantee at the link in the description. Protection is always a good thing.
04:25Now basically every time I mention that the inner screen is made from plastic, without fail someone
04:30responds that it's only plastic because of the built in screen protector. Which is a valid observation.
04:35Even though Samsung says this layer is not removable, which technically makes it a permanent part of
04:40the screen, it's still worth taking a closer look at. With the top layer completely gone and removed,
04:47the layer directly underneath the top plastic is also plastic. Very visibly scratching at a level 2.
04:53The layers that matter most can all be damaged by a fingernail. And also, now just for scientific
04:59purposes of course, let me show you how important those outer bezel plastic pieces really are.
05:04With just the slightest touch to the edge of the Fold 7's flexible inner screen, with my jerry rig knife,
05:10it instantly dies. Those plastic bezels we removed earlier are vital to the survival of your center
05:16screen. What's cool though, as we peel back the other layers of the sandwich to get to our titanium
05:21backplate, is that Samsung is still including an inner glass layer. You can hear it crackle and pop.
05:28This is the ultra thin glass both in name and in functionality. And while it's not one of the top
05:33layers, it is definitely still in here adding some support. Samsung also makes the display on the
05:39pixel fold, which includes ultra thin glass as well. And let's be real, Samsung is probably going to be
05:46making the display for the folding iPhone later this year since nobody else has better folding screen
05:51technology at the moment than Samsung. And Apple isn't ready to start inventing things on their own.
05:59Pulling off the shiny titanium backplate...
06:04There are a few ways to see if this is real titanium or not. One is with a $20,000 XRF scanner,
06:10which I do not currently own, but I will be writing a letter to Santa. The other method of verification is
06:16with fire, since as we know titanium forms colorful oxide bands as it gets heated up. The metal mesh
06:22in the center of the screen is also probably made from titanium as well. This just adds more structure
06:27to the center crease, which is the most vulnerable part of the display. After heating the metal with
06:32my butane lighter, I really don't see any bluing of the material. A butane lighter burns at about 1600
06:38degrees Fahrenheit, which might not be hot enough. Bumping things up a bit to my MAP gas torch, which burns
06:44more than twice as hot. At 3700 degrees, we finally get some action. Oh, that's not good. Oh no. Yikes.
07:03This fire tells us a few things. The white hot sparks of the reactive metal mess is indicative of titanium.
07:09And now we do start seeing those colorful heat rings,
07:20which is how real titanium would react.
07:27Steel would not burn for as long on its own. And the sparks from the steel are more of a yellow or
07:32orange in color. And aluminum doesn't really spark at all. Fun fact, the firework fountains you see on the
07:374th of July are usually made with a titanium powder because of how reactive and brightly it burns.
07:44Finally, the screen is plugged into the phone from the inside. And predictably nothing else is
07:48accessible to the phone underneath the folding screen. So like we predicted earlier, there would
07:53never be a real world situation where this screen needs to come off unless it's already broken or
07:58damaged and needs to be replaced anyway. Or of course, if you're just trying to flex on the rest of the
08:03world with your phone repairing prowess. My phone is still totally functional, minus that interior
08:08screen. So just for fun and with the hopes that someone somewhere can use this video someday to
08:13repair their own smartphone, we'll continue with the rest of the disassembly so you know what to
08:18expect on the inside before you actually get there. The back glass comes off easy enough,
08:24in one piece if you take your time. The front screen is also rather difficult since it's recessed deep
08:29into the aluminum frame. But with enough heat and a thin enough pry tool, taking care not to touch the
08:34edge of the AMOLED display under the glass, it is doable. Just like how we accomplished on the Flip 7
08:39tear down earlier. And then it just unplugs like a little Lego. Now with both the front and rear glass
08:44removed, we have access to about 37 little Phillips head screws. It's a fascinating marvel to see how much
08:51technology Samsung has crammed into such a small space. We have the 15 watt wireless charger that can
08:56reverse wireless charge at 4.5 watts. We also have the SIM card tray, which is basically just as thick
09:02as the rest of the phone. I'll remove some of the protective shielding around the daughterboard,
09:06and we get our first look at the super long battery on the right side of the flattened device. It sits
09:11right below the upper stereo loudspeaker, which does have some metal mesh over the opening.
09:16Samsung has included pull tabs on the battery again, thumbs up for that, but the pull tabs are only on
09:22the lower half of the ultra long battery, which makes bendage still an issue. Any bending of the
09:27battery could cause a short in the inner layers, making it combust or cause gas to fill up the
09:32battery pouch, which is something Samsung is kind of famous for. The long battery is 2,210 mAh. With
09:40the battery gone, we can see some mill markings on the aluminum chassis. The marks are left as the tool
09:45makes its path around the different cavities of the phone. Samsung sells about 2 million of these
09:50full devices every single year, which is an absolutely astronomical amount of machine time.
09:55I think it'd be really cool to see the factory someday. The left battery also has pull tabs,
09:59thin as 2,190 mAh, bringing our total to 4,400 mAh. The lower charging port ribbon has its gold
10:07microphone hardware as well as the shell-less USB-C 2.0 port that uses a red rubber ring to mate with the
10:14frame of the phone to provide its water resistance. The vibrator is rectangular and one of the thinnest
10:19we've ever seen. Let me know if you'd like me to make an in-depth vibrator review video at some point.
10:24The technology is fascinating. The 5G millimeter wave antenna comes out next. Kind of cool looking.
10:30Then the motherboard, which amazingly in a $2,000 phone does not have any sort of external cooling
10:36system in place. The top 12 megapixel ultra wide camera does not have any OIS. The 200 megapixel main
10:42camera in the center does have optical image stabilization. And the 10 megapixel telephoto camera at the
10:48bottom also has OIS. There's a little bit of cooling underneath the graphite tape on the back,
10:53mostly here to eliminate the air gap between the processor and the graphite. But once that
10:58heat hits the graphite, there is another air gap between it and the anodized aluminum frame of the
11:03phone. Air is not good. And to make matters worse, the blue anodizing layer does reduce the thermal
11:08conductivity of the aluminum frame. So heat is definitely something to keep an eye on for smartphone
11:14power users. The two selfie cameras for the exterior and interior screens are both 10 megapixels without
11:20any optical image stabilization. Now the only part left to see is the spine of the Fold 7, which is
11:26interestingly enough held in place by another 24 phillips head screws all covered with some gray
11:31rubberized tape. I assume this tape is here to help with the waterproofing, ensuring no liquid seep
11:36inside the frame through the screw holes if it ever gets wet. It's good to see the extra protection of
11:41course, but also you should probably just try not to get your $2,000 smartphone wet. And there you have
11:48it. 27% thinner and 43% lighter than the hinge on the previous Fold 6. Extremely cool. As always,
11:55thanks a ton for watching, and I'll see you around.
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