Ever wonder what goes into building that precious smartphone you just can't live without? Samsung is giving us a sneak peek into the process.
The Korean phone giant on Friday offered up a behind-the-scenes look at how the latest addition to its Galaxy line — the Galaxy Alpha — is made. "The Galaxy Alpha has redefined Samsung's design aesthetics in many ways; and not surprisingly, it required advanced design techniques and compact construction," according to a post on the company's blog.
Unveiled last week, the Galaxy Alpha features a metal frame with a curved corner, and is also one of the slimmest Galaxy devices ever at less than 7mm thick.
During the product development phase, computerized tools are used to carve and trim a piece of rough metal material into the shape of the Galaxy's frame. The machines then form secure spaces where the phone's battery and window will go, and these pieces are connected to the frame. Next, the machines go to work on the outer edge of the frame, forming its curved corners, and spaces for the key buttons and antenna.
After all this, the frame gets its blue, gold, black, silver, or white shade through a Color Anodizing process, which involves tinting the metal without altering its natural shine. The metal frame is once again cut — this time using a diamond at a specific angle to give the edge its shiny look. Finally, the phone's display is connected to the frame.
Once the phone is all put together, it's send over to the quality assurance lab, where machines run three different tests to check its durability.
"During the 'drop test,' the Galaxy Alpha is released from varying heights, multiple times to evaluate the resilience of its metal frame," Samsung said. "The Galaxy Alpha outperformed all other Galaxy devices on this test as its durable curved corners prevent it from external shock."
There's also the bending test, where a machine presses each side of the device at the same time to evaluate how much pressure it can withstand. A third and final test, called the twist test, determines the level of impact a device can handle by moving it from side-to-side in opposite directions.
The latest Galaxy flagship device comes with a 4.7-inch HD Super AMOLED display, a 12-megapixel rear camera and 2.1-megapixel front shooter. It runs Android 4.4 KitKat and includes features like ultra power-saving mode, S Health, fingerprint scanner, private mode, and connectivity with Samsung's wearables.
The Galaxy Alpha launches in early September, but Samsung has not yet revealed an exact date or pricing.
For more, check out the Alpha's production process in the slideshow above. In April, PCMag's Sascha Segan got to check out the Galaxy S5 production process in Korea; check that out in the second slideshow, as well as his adventures in aging tech at Seoul's flea markets.