Xiaomi Mi5 doesn’t survive durability test by JerryRigEverything

The YouTube channel JerryRigEverything has made a reputation for repeatedly torturing new smartphones that come out of the market. He doesn’t do it out of a perverse pleasure in continuously breaking devices, but because it is part of consumers’ rights to know how sturdy the devices you are spending money on. The latest “victim” is the new Xiaomi Mi5 and, spoiler alert, it doesn’t do that well under the bend, scratch, and burn test that he usually applies to the devices.

Past tests have seen the LG G5, the Samsung Galaxy S7, and the OnePlus Two somewhat survive certain levels of the durability test. We say somewhat because it is understood that devices will always break at one point when certain force is applied. But so far, we’ve seen at least two smartphones “miserably fail”: the HTC M9 and the Nexus 6P. And now, we probably can add the Xiaomi Mi5 to those that did not easily survive the test.

The most obvious failure is in the bend test, where the Mi5 proves to be one of the easiest to bend and break, probably because it only uses a single and lower-grade aluminum frame. The decision to use that material is probably so it will become lighter, and consequently cheaper than the other flagships in the market now. But of course the consequence is that if enough force is applied, then it will easily break.

The good news is in the scratch test. The Mi5 has two Gorilla Glass 4 pieces on the front and rear, and so the device’s scratch resistance is pretty good. A sapphire piece protects the camera lens, so that is scratch resistant too. It sort of survives the burn test as the display was still functioning after being subjected to an open flame, briefly. So as long as you don’t do anything to bend it, then the Xiaomi Mi5 should survive your day to day use, if you’re willing to risk its bendabiity and breakability.