It's been well over a month since the OnePlus 10 Pro got its official announcement, but thanks to its region-locked exclusivity to China, it almost feels like the phone doesn't exist yet. While recent rumors point to a global release in March, famed durability tester Zack from JerryRigEverything managed to get his hands on the device a little early. Unfortunately, it seems like this is one OnePlus device that might not make it out unscathed.
Avid JRE fans know how this usually goes: scratch test, burn test, bend test, all to see if a specific device can hold up to daily wear and tear. For the most part, the OnePlus 10 Pro performs as you'd expect. Its glass display scratches around a level 6 on the Mohs hardness scale (once the screen protector is removed, at least), and the OLED display permanently burns after about 45 seconds under a lighter. That's all pretty usual for a smartphone in 2022.
It's the bend test where the real challenge comes in. Glass slabs usually handle this process pretty well, especially when reinforced with some sort of metal or steel. Every now and then, though, a phone's construction just can't hold up to this sort of torture, and it seems like the OnePlus 10 Pro falls squarely into this category.
With the first flex, the glass back breaks immediately, spreading cracks and shards below the camera bump but leaving the display intact. This time, a second flex from the other direction snaps the phone in two, bending nearly 90 degrees and disabling everything except the ring flash. It's not what you want to see from any flagship device, especially one that has yet to launch in most of the world.
It seems like the internal and structural design combined to make a worst-case scenario. The battery takes up most of the space inside the bottom half of the phone, creating a gap between it and the camera module. As it stands, only the side rails seem to actually support this area. The volume rocker also lines up with this space, further reducing its strength and resistance to pressure.
This failure doesn't necessarily force us to write off the OnePlus 10 Pro altogether, though it's certainly a step backward compared to the brick-like structure of previous generations. On the bright side, at least the company finally made good on that fake foldable promotion from last summer — just not in a way any of us expected.