Teardown of JRE’s failed Pixel 4 XL shows exactly why it broke
JerryRigEverything is a YouTuber who durability tests modern smartphones for exaggerated wear they may see throughout their lives. Well except for the burn test, that one is silly. Most phones survive this test, but the Pixel 4 surprisingly almost failed. While it never fully broke, the test ended with a bunch of cracks across the frame.
The YouTuber proceeded to tear the device apart to see what happened. And it turns out that Google really cheaped out on the use of metals in the frame. Usually, we see a big chunk of aluminum that has been milled out for all the components, and some companies even use stainless steel or titanium for structural rigidity.
Unfortunately, Google seems to have used super-thin aluminum surrounded by plastics. Obviously this isn’t good enough to keep the device in one piece during a bend. And while the device won’t be bending quite that much in normal use, good luck if you sit on it.
For the $800 price tag, Google has dropped the ball in so many ways. But hey, at least we got radar.