Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 7 is put through the ringer as a teardown shows its difficulties

What you need to know

• The Galaxy Z Flip 7 is put through Zach Nelson's teardown gauntlet, which shows the difficulties behind removing its inner and cover displays.
• Nelson notes the continuation of Samsung's battery pull tabs for removal and its hefty amount of screws to remove larger internal components.
• The video also touches on Samsung's UTG (ultra-thin glass) for the inner display, which Nelson hopes can be thicker in the future for longevity purposes.
• The Fold 7 recently underwent a teardown, and its repairability score is incredibly low due to Samsung's development practices.

Samsung's newest Galaxy Z Flip 7 just went through a gauntlet, giving a look at the company's hardware.

The host of the JerryRigEverything YouTube channel, Zach Nelson, brought down his teardown hammer on the Galaxy Z Flip 7, and the results were eye-catching (via SamMobile). To begin, the host attempts to remove the inner foldable display, removing the bezels first, before trying to (very carefully) pry off that screen. Though there was a brief jump scare, the screen actually bid farewell to the land of the living shortly after, as Nelson "forgot the ribbon cables" inside.

Nelson then got a closer look at Samsung's ultra-thin glass layer, which is a very flexible glass layer for the display's functionality. However, quickly bending the display the wrong way spidered the glass. Nelson hopes Samsung could make that thicker, further improving its longevity.

The cover display was difficult to remove; however, it still functioned as Nelson got to looking at the Flip 7's OIS (optical image stabilization) capabilities. The device's OIS held up well, even while it was open on the operating table, offering little jitter when shaken with the camera app open.

Diving into the Flip 7, it was made evident that Samsung had continued to use its pull tabs for the battery and screws for removing most of its initial layer of components. As the publication noted, this could help its repairability score down the line, but there are still difficulties with repairing foldables.

You can watch Zach Nelson's full teardown of the Flip 7, where he discusses the new changes to the phone's hinge, its thermal specifications, and more.

Teardowns & Samsung's Development

The Flip 7's ultra-thin glass might sound familiar if you remember Samsung detailing how it created the device and the Fold 7. Funnily enough, Samsung stated that it made the UTG 50% thicker on the Fold 7, which would aid in reducing how noticeable the phone's crease is over time. It's likely a similar upgrade was made to the Flip 7 for its crease. The Flip 7's highlight was its full, edge-to-edge cover display, and its slimmer bezels that Zach Nelson promptly ripped up.

The Fold 7 went through a teardown earlier in August, but that one truly honed in on its repairability, for which there is very little. A video from iFixit spoke about the sheer difficulties one would experience if attempting to fix the Fold 7. It noted how the battery pull tabs are an "inferior" method, as they often break or require too much force, which could bend the battery, rendering it useless.

Moreover, if your Fold 7's camera has been damaged, someone would have to take the device apart just to fix it.