ASUS ROG Phone 5 could be the most powerful smartphone on the market at the moment and comes with a price commensurate with the performance. We would expect from a top smartphone to receive a construction comparable and in tune with the asking price, but this time, ASUS has made a few compromises to integrate everything into a high-performance gaming smartphone. Although previous models have survived the tests of Zack Nelson from Jerry Rig Everything, the ROG Phone 5 model becomes the only one that fails.
The ROG Phone 5 is not as well built as the previous models
At first glance, there are not many differences in the construction of the ROG Phone 5 compared to the ROG Phone 1, 2 and 3 models. It is built around a metal frame with glass panels on both sides. They also all have a secondary USB plug on the left side, where a sensitive point for construction could appear. However, only ROG Phone 5 failed to pass the bending test, having not one, but two sensitive points in the design.
It seems that for the first time, the phone gives way around the 5G antenna on the side, where the metal frame is interrupted by plastic. This destroys the structural integrity of the device, but if you bend the phone in the other direction, the frame around the secondary USB jack also fails. The result is a cracked and completely dysfunctional screen (even if the glass above it, Gorilla Glass Victus, did not give way, plus a completely broken back.
It is all the more disappointing as the rest of the endurance tests were passed with flying colors, from scratches to materials used for finishes, most of them being made of metal. However, with a little luck, the phone could be protected by a more durable case in normal use, and this could give it a little more resistance in case you accidentally sit on it. Eventually, the bending test simulates sitting on the phone with great force, which could lead to damage.
ROG Phone 5 thus becomes the first phone in 2021 that fails to pass the bending test on the Jerry Rig Everything channel.
