Trouble for Samsung: Galaxy Fold display failure affecting review units
Samsung may soon have a public relations nightmare on its hands: Multiple US journalists have revealed that the display on their Galaxy Fold review unit has stopped working after a day or two of use. From Mark Gurman of Bloomberg to popular YouTuber MKBHD, there are at least four reported cases of the Galaxy Fold’s 7.3-inch display going bad, and it seems removing the pre-installed protective film from the display was the reason for it happening for some of them.
Galaxy Fold quality control may need more work
This protective film is apparently not supposed to be removed from the device, but Samsung doesn’t bundle any such warning with the device. And perhaps it’s because the protective film isn’t the primary reason, because a couple of units ran into the same display-breaking issue even though the protective film was not removed. The protective film on the Galaxy Fold doesn’t seem to be a standard screen protector like the one the Galaxy S10 comes with, but it is visible on the display if you look closely, which might prompt people to remove it after they’ve unpacked the device.
We can see this film on our Galaxy Fold as well, but for the moment, our unit is running without issues. It remains to be seen how widespread the problem is, as all current reports are from the US, but it’s possible Samsung will now have to delay the April 26 retail release of the Galaxy Fold. The company has already offered replacements to those who have broken Galaxy Fold review units, although none of them seem to have received those replacements yet so it’s unclear if the new units will the same problem after a few days.
With the Galaxy Fold the first commercial foldable smartphone, having such a major setback with what is its pièce de résistance is not going to be a good look for Samsung. Here’s hoping the company is able to fix things quickly, lest it end up with a Foldgate fiasco that puts the kibosh on its plans to define the future of the smartphone.
- Model: SM-F900F
- Dimensions: Unfolded: 160.9 x 117.9 x 6.9 mm Folded: 160.9 x 62.9 x 15.5 mm
- Display: 7,3" (185.4mm) Super AMOLED
- CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
- Camera: 16 MP, CMOS F2.2 & 12MP, CMOS F1.5/F2.4Wide & 12MP, CMOS F2.4 Telephoto
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“Galaxy Fold quality control may need more work”
In next article, second screenshot is written.
“All Samsung smartphones is always being controlled under high level of quality standard internally”
This could affect sales.
They should investigate it before selling it to customers.
“This protective film is apparently not supposed to be removed from the device”
Who said this ?
“We can see this film on our Galaxy Fold as well, but for the moment, our unit is running without issues.”
Try remove this film and see what happens.
We should hold our patient. This is the first fold display device with complicated components and there’s may be some teething problem. I hope Samsung definitely solve this as per feedback.
I know for a fact that this technology will not work for now. You can roll but you can’t bend the display 180º flat. Maybe in the future will see.
How do you know this for a fact? Do you own one. Have you handled one for weeks?
What do you mean there were no warnings? I saw a user post a warning message that was on the plastic that clearly states that there is a protective layer that shouldn’t be removed. This is also on the getting started
Yes, but as we say here, a few more warnings might be useful considering how keen some people usually are to remove out of the box protective films. With such a costly device, just one label on the device may not cut it.
user error is still that personal responsibility is a thing and after they saw it was hard to pull off they should of left it alone but they kept pulling and the others where probably sat on
So eager to be the first ones to bring out a foldable display phone to the market for absolutely no reason. Now they’ll have to deal with the reputation of bringing out a technology that is not ready for prime time and since they chosen to be the first ones to bring out such phone, the reputation will stuck for atleast a considerable amount of time. They should have stuck to other types of innovations or stop-gap innovations until the technology would become a bit cheaper to produce and would be more robust, But nope, they made a different choice.… Read more »
Setback? It’s literally two units. The other two were damaged by having the top film peeled off.
Not a good look, for sure, but no need to cry “the sky is falling!” Not yet, at least.
