Flipped test pyramid

Flipped test pyramid image
Definition: A flipped test pyramid is a test pyramid turned upside down, with a small unit testing layer at the bottom and large end-to-end and manual testing layers at the top. In mobile testing it often happens because tools are less mature and units are hard to test in isolation.

So what? A flipped pyramid has no stable foundation: tests are slower, more expensive and more fragile. Recognising it helps teams understand why their test suite behaves that way and what to aim for as tools improve.

Examples: A mobile team relying mostly on manual and end-to-end tests because mocking device APIs for unit tests is too complex. A team planning to grow its unit tests as better mobile testing tools appear.

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