Google might have yet another Pixel with a battery problem, and this time, affecting the brand new Pixel 10 Pro Fold. In a video published today, YouTuber JerryRigEverything, aka Zack Nelson, subjected the foldable to his usual durability tests, but as he’s filming his bend test — after having already broken the phone open — the battery expands, appears to overheat, emits enough smoke to set off a nearby fire alarm, and ultimately ends up as a charred wreckage on his testing table.
To be fair, Nelson puts an extraordinary amount of stress on the phone. He originally breaks open the phone by bending it backwards while the phone is fully unfolded, and the battery doesn’t swell up until he exerts a lot of force on the broken part of the phone in such a way that he’s essentially folding the screen behind itself.
That’s not a scenario any normal person is going to encounter day to day. But it’s still unusual even given the extreme circumstances, according to Nelson. He says he hasn’t seen anything like it during prior tests.
“Surprisingly, in the decade that I’ve been durability-testing phones, I have never had a smartphone explode before,” Nelson says. “The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is the first phone to go up in smoke.” And while he notes that this is an “extreme test,” he adds that “I’ve also subjected every mainstream smartphone made in the past 10 years to these exact same tests. And this is the first time I’ve ever had one fail so spectacularly to the point where my fire alarm is going off.”
“As dramatic as a battery fire is, we don’t think this is necessarily a sign that something is wrong with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold design,” iFixit’s Elizabeth Chamberlain tells The Verge. “The possibility of thermal runaway is just a reality of Li-ion batteries. Looks like Zack probably didn’t discharge the battery before opening up the phone (most new phones have 60%+ charge out of the box). We usually recommend discharging a battery below 25%, but with the extreme stresses Zack places on devices, that may even be too high.
Chamberlain adds that “thermal runaway is basically a local short circuit, and it is most likely to happen when you break through the insulating layers of a jelly roll-style battery.” She also pointed to a post and a video from iFixit about batteries catching fire.
Nelson put the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s IP68 dust resistance to the test, too. While Google has called the phone its “most durable foldable yet” and highlighted the benefits of the phone’s gearless hinge, Nelson pours some dust right onto the hinge and opens and closes the phone, resulting in some sickening crunches as dust gets stuck inside. “This is kind of embarrassing,” Nelson says.