In a research and development laboratory on the northern outskirts of Beijing, a robot is tapping on the screen of a Huawei phone with rubber-tipped steel fingers, tens of thousands of times over, to test whether the phone can withstand the rigors of everyday usage.

Another robot takes a phone wrapped in the denim pocket of a pair of jeans, and repeatedly presses on the middle of the screen with 30 kilograms of force, to test whether the phone can stand up to accidentally being sat on.