it's been about a year since samsung
released or rather
re-released their first foldable the
galaxy fold the shaky launch of that
phone made for a skeptical reception but
in just one year
samsung's engineers have made some big
improvements the z-fold 2
is a surprisingly polished device both
in the way it looks and the way it feels
it has a larger cover screen a 120 hertz
glass folding screen
a new improved hideaway hinge an updated
camera configuration
and of course some updated 2020 internal
specs
for this new polished phone we try a new
polished opening procedure
adapted from samsung's own service
manuals which you can actually buy from
samsung
if you know where to look since we don't
have the little oven chamber that
samsung uses
we try 10 minutes of exacting
temperature on a heating pad
at which point the glue softens up so
much this 6.2 inch outer display almost
lifts free with just a suction cup
maybe next time we won't even need the
picks this process
does require a device capable of precise
heating which not many folks have
but the good news is it also works on
the rear glass panel even if it does
require a bit more prying
our first look inside the fold 2 is
blocked by plastic antenna modules
and the wireless charging coil these are
held down with a lot of phillips screws
maybe too many but you won't catch us
complaining after those tiny tri points
we found in the surface duo last week
alright now we can take our first real
look inside the fold 2.
it looks like things have been
significantly reorganized at a glance it
seems it inherits more of its dna from
the z-flip than the first gen fold
there's a pair of 5g millimeter wave
antennas a few breakout boards to
complement the main circuit board
a modular sim reader a pair of beefy
batteries
and cables and connectors galore
speaking of internals
stay tuned to ifixit.com for x-ray and
teardown wallpapers of the z-fold 2
coming soon
we will link them in the description
below when they're ready a few more
phillips screws and those cables stand
between us
and the circuit boards the main board
comes out with the cameras
more on those in a minute and underneath
it you can see a graphite thermal pad
just like the one in the note 20 ultra
this finding is in line with what seems
to be a new trend where samsung is
abandoning their much hyped copper vapor
chambers
in favor of these graphite thermal pads
next there's a second board in the other
half of the phone
and a third one for the usb-c port and
the vibration motor
so the cameras the original fold was
famously stuffed to the gills with
cameras
so much so that the folding screen had a
huge notch to accommodate some of them
the full two shows a little more
restraint with only five cameras
three rear-facing 12 megapixel cameras
ultra wide
standard wide and telephoto and two 10
megapixel hole punch selfie cams one for
each screen
since it worked so well before we send
the full tube back to the heat pad in
hopes it will soften up the display
adhesive and help us remove the super
fragile folding glass amoled
but first the bezel the original fold
and the z-flip
both had thin plastic bezels around
their folding screens that were pretty
easy to remove
only lightly adhered in place the fold 2
has a new bezel
it's thicker now extending over the edge
of the phone to meet the metal frame
it's got a tighter fit stronger adhesive
and some clips holding it down to boot
all these traits make it more annoying
to remove but one thing's for sure
the new bezel looks a lot more like it
belongs there less like something
samsung tacked on at the last second
now the 7.6 inch folding amoled display
can come out
like the display we saw in the fold 1.1
and the z-flip it's glued in place and
backed by
two metal support plates plus a series
of tiny metal slats that curve around
the folded part like a bamboo mat
all this metal supports the delicate
panel so that when you poke at it it
doesn't just shatter
we didn't forget the batteries we just
weren't looking forward to this part
plenty of solvent eventually loosens the
adhesive holding them down
and before you can say consumable 10
times fast
they're free from their sticky prison
thanks in part to the slightly larger
footprint of the fold 2
the batteries have gotten a bit of an
upgrade from the first fold they are 9.1
and 8.37 watt hour cells now up from
8.65
and 8.22 watt hours that's a nice
upgrade though a lot of that power
probably goes straight to the new high
refresh rate screen
finally we peel up the sticker hiding
that new hideaway hinge
it's a complete change from the
elaborate three hinge system of clasps
and gears inside the first folds
and it's also a lot more compact two
geared metal hinges
one on either side of the fold with
sturdy wings that hold the two halves of
the phone together
these new hinges allow the phone to stay
open at any angle like the z
flip instead of snapping from close to
open like the first fold
of course no tear down is complete
without a little x-ray vision
here's a gorgeous see-through shot of
the fold two's hinge in action thanks to
creative electron
well that's the end of this teardown
nothing left to do but hand out the
awards
despite the many improvements in build
quality and polish
the samsung galaxy z fold earns a 3 out
of 10 on our repairability scale its
relatively modular construction
and use of friendly phillips screws just
aren't enough to offset the zealous use
of adhesive and the difficult battery
and screen removal procedures
thanks for watching our galaxy default 2
teardown stay tuned to ifixit.com for
those wallpapers and subscribe to our
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this