Breaking In The Samsung Galaxy Fold, Literally

Wire

Breaking In The Samsung Galaxy Fold, Literally

Whats the quickest way to burn through $1980 you ask?

Members of the media got their hands on the review unit for the Samsung Galaxy Fold this week and it is not looking good. With the phone set to launch on April 26th, multiple reviewers with early access to the phones say they have been breaking after just a day or two of use. This does not bode well for Samsung nor for the people who’ve already bought it. You see, the phone already sold out of pre-orders. All the so called lucky early adopters(rich people??) out there might be in for a surprise. The whole thing is almost fyre festival-esque, really.

Lets be honest, Samsung rushed the Galaxy Fold into production and it really shows. With smartphone sales dwindling and manufacturers struggling to come up with a new gimmick to get people to buy a new phone every year, Samsung saw an opportunity to pounce. They needed it to succeed; The company have been going through a horrid time of late, from explode-gate to corrupt CEO-gate, they were in desperate need of a win.

The galaxy Fold is not that.

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg said his “review unit is completely broken and unusable after just two days in.” In a thread on twitter, he documented how his screen broke after he removed the protective film on the screen.

The screen on my Galaxy Fold review unit is completely broken and unusable just two days in. Hard to know if this is widespread or not. pic.twitter.com/G0OHj3DQHw

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) April 17, 2019

The famous Marques Brownlee echoed these sentiments

PSA: There’s a layer that appears to be a screen protector on the Galaxy Fold’s display. It’s NOT a screen protector. Do NOT remove it.

I got this far peeling it off before the display spazzed and blacked out. Started over with a replacement. pic.twitter.com/ZhEG2Bqulr

— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) April 17, 2019

He wasn’t the only one with problems. Todd Haselton at CNBC had similar problems, except he had not removed the protective film.

My colleague opened the Galaxy Fold and it started doing this. So, long answer to your question @WilfredFrost, the hinge doesn’t seem very rugged after all. After two days: pic.twitter.com/Z1F8iwjURa

— Todd Haselton (@robotodd) April 17, 2019

Meanwhile, Dieter Bohn of The Verge called out a “small bulge” on what he said was a defective hinge… after just one day of use. “The bulge eventually pressed sharply enough into the screen to break it,” The Verge said. “You can see the telltale lines of a broken OLED converging on the spot where the bulge is.”

Other reviewers have indicated a constant flickering screen.

It’s still early days and I have no doubt that the next Fold from Samsung will slay, but in this particular case, it looks like Samsung’s desperation to stand out as an innovation leader has cost them dearly. To those of you who somehow managed to get their hands on one though, here’s a video of the phone folding and unfolding… and folding… and unfolding.. over and over again.

Here’s to no ragrets!