You may not want to place your Pixel 2 in a pocket full of coins

Zack from JerryRigEverything is back, and he’s here to reveal just how fragile the exterior paint of the Google Pixel 2 can be.

Another phone, another JerryRigEverything torture test, amiright? Most flagship smartphones have undergone Zack’s merciless scratching, burning, and bending, and only few have survived to tell the tale. Well, what about Google’s recently-announced Pixel 2? It’s touted as the best phone for mobile photography, but just how durable is its metal body? Not very durable, it turns out.

As you can see above, the front glass panel is a standard story: the Gorilla Glass 5 starts to show light marks at level 6 on Mohs scale of hardness and gives in at level 7, just like most other smartphones. He points out that unlike last year’s models, which featured a cloth-covered speaker grill on top, the front-firing speakers on this year’s Pixel 2 are protected by metal. So far so good.

The problem starts to arise when he flips the phone around. While the Pixel 2 (and the Pixel 2 XL) boasts a metal body, the back is painted with a special “hybrid material.” The issue here is that this special coating is particularly susceptible to chipping and scratches. As Zack demonstrates, the paint starts to come off at level 3 on Mohs scale of hardness, indicating that this is just as prone to scratches as good old plastic. Indeed, this is analogous to the controversy surrounding the LG G5’s plastic-like paint last year. What makes it worse, however, is that the paint might also be prone to discoloration. Google itself notes on its official website, “Some materials, such as leather or denim, may transfer color to Clearly White, Kinda Blue, and Black & White phones.”

The metal frames around the sides of the phone aren’t exceptionally durable either. In the dreaded bend test, the Pixel 2’s housing cracked with the slightest push. While plenty of other phones have shown similar results, as Zack points out, it’s odd that that Google decided to put a plastic antenna line precisely in the spot that has historically been proven to be the weakest pressure point on a smartphone.

The bottom line is that you probably don’t want to put your Pixel 2 inside the back pocket of your skinny jeans unless you want a discolored and bent phone. Oh, and it’s probably a good idea to check for keys and coins as well since the back of the Pixel 2 seems particularly prone to chipping.