Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is pretty durable, but don’t push it too far

Now that Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra, as well as S20 and S20+, are available for purchase, it’s reasonable to check just how durable these pricy phones are. 

The answer, according to several tests we’ve seen, is somewhat surprising. Despite having the largest display, the S20 Ultra is the most durable of the bunch, with great resistance to bending and overall less chance of breaking when dropped. However, this doesn’t mean that you can just toss the S20 Ultra around at will. 

In SquareTrade’s fairly comprehensive test, which includes dropping the phones on the face, the back, bending them, tumbling them around, and dunking them into water, all of the S20 devices suffered serious damage. 

The difference? Well, the S20 Ultra was still working after being dropped, while the S20 and the S20+ were not. The S20+ and the S20 Ultra fared a bit better than the S20 in the tumble test but again, all three phones broke. In the bend tests, the S20 Ultra was the clear winner, as it took 200.7 lbs of pressure for it to break, compared to 184.6 lbs and 170.8 lbs for the S20 and the S20+, respectively. 

All three devices survived being dunked in five feet of water for 30 minutes without being damaged. 

YouTuber JerryRigEverything posted his own durability test of the S20 Ultra, though he focused on scratching and bending the device instead of dropping it. 

Again, the S20 Ultra was very resistant to bending and surprisingly resistant to scratches — within reason, of course. If you take a scalpel to its frame, for example, you will be able to scratch it and peel its paint. 

In another video, PhoneBuff tested the S20 Ultra’s durability against the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

This was another drop test, and in it, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra fared slightly better than the iPhone 11 Pro Max. The S20 Ultra barely gets a scratch in the back drop test, whereas the iPhone gets completely shattered in the same test. 

The results were similar in the face drop test, with the S20 Ultra’s display getting slightly cracked vs. the iPhone’s display getting shattered. The S20 Ultra did fare a little worse when dropped to the side, as its aluminum frame takes more damage than the iPhone’s steel frame. 

All in all, Samsung’s priciest phone ever appears to be quite durable, though we’d still recommend you get a case. Because, you know, $1,400 and all.