The ASUS ROG Phone 5 cracks under very little pressure in durability test - Android

The ASUS ROG Phone 5 snaps.

What you need to know

• JerryRigEverything checks the durability of the ASUS ROG Phone 5.
• The test shows the phone bending fairly easily under mild pressure.
• There appears to be a weak point in the phone's build along the antenna line.

The new ASUS ROG Phone 5 has all the right specs to make it one of the best Android phones for gamers, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, an OLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate, super-fast 65W charging, and a whopping 18GB of RAM. The bold design makes this gaming phone a standout among many of the best Android phones today, but unfortunately, that design seems also to be its weakness.

While in the safe care of JerryRigEverything, things with the ROG Phone 5 started fairly well, performing normally under the scratch and burn tests. Things went downhill fairly quickly in the bend test, which showed the ROG Phone 5 crack along the middle antenna line, disrupting the phone's vibration motor. A bit more bending causes the screen to go out, and finally, the entire back panel is destroyed.

The back panel is protected with Gorilla Glass 3, while the front uses the newer Gorilla Glass Victus, so it's no surprise that the rear was a lot worse for wear in this test while the front managed to come out fairly intact. Still, the test highlights a potential design flaw of the ROG Phone 5 regarding its antenna placement and the dual batteries under the hood, which likely cause an internal gap due to their placement.

Given that this is a gaming phone, the fragility of the ROG Phone 5 is something to consider. These devices are normally heftier than the average smartphone and should be able to handle some fairly intense use given that owners of this phone are likely going to have tight grips while button mashing.