Yes. Not only the hinges can be damaged, but so can the areas that the hinges mount to. And when that happens, the cables between the base and the top can be damaged by stretching or being crushed, which can cause the display to degrade or fail.

Here’s the problem: you can likely hold a laptop by the top, and if it is at the hinge limit or before, it will be ok. But if too much force is applied by (for example) bouncing or a sudden jerk, there’s nothing to absorb that force other than the hinges and the material they mount to. The hinges have no room to bend or crumple, so they are typically harder than the body of the laptop, and then the body of the laptop deforms to respond to the force. If it’s a small force, it can spring back; a large enough force causes cracking or what’s known as “plastic deformation” where it bends but does not bounce back.

Now, at this point, you might think “if the computer maker put a stop with a spring in the hinge, wouldn’t that help?” You would be right, but that would also make the machine thicker and more expensive, and you can hold the machine by the base to avoid the issue. (Grin). It might be interesting to see if there’s a market for cases that have additional protection for hinges, though! Also, laptops that fold all the way backwards don’t have this problem.