So after a lot speculating and waiting, foldable phones became a reality with the Royale Flex Pai coming out first. And then, it was the Huawei Mate X that showed up. Shortly thereafter, Samsung Galaxy Fold made its presence known, and probably, that was the most anticipated folding smartphone ever. And it was one of the futures of smartphones it seems. But with reports that the Galaxy Fold is unfolding its durability issues, the future seems fragile!
I don’t want to be too dramatic about this. But what happened to it, for such an expensive phone is, kind of, a cause for alarm. Some reviewers, reportedly, faced screen issues. And by issues, I mean, rendering the displays useless. Reviewers like MKBHD, Dieter Bohn of The Verge, Steve Kovach of CNBC, and Mark Gurman of Bloomberg faced such issues. And that happened in two different ways.
First was, what can be considered a user error. There is a thin plastic film on the inner foldable display of the Galaxy Fold that not only protects its display but is actually the part of it. And while the retail units do have a warning on the packaging telling users not to remove it, the ones reviewers received did not have it. So, like any other sensible person, they removed the film, mistaking it for a screen protector of sorts. Also, that is one easy mistake to make. Immediately after removing it, they began to face problems, and the displays became useless.
Another kind of problem, happened, on its own apparently. By which, I mean, no removing of the coating was involved. But there is also a small gap underneath the plastic coating right at the hinge, through which dust or air can enter easily. And maybe due to that, the displays stopped working.
After these incidents went public, Samsung did release a statement which claimed they would investigate the problem. In addition, it is also a warning about not to remove the coating after purchase. Now, of course, what’s happened has happened. There are no two ways about it. For consumers, Samsung might replace the faulty units, while other retailers like AT&T and T-Mobile claim to be making contingency plans for consumers.
Nevertheless, this is, as I said, raises some concern. For such a highly anticipated device and an expensive one at that, to break so easily is something else entirely. Sure, this is a first-generation device. The very first foldable phone for Samsung. So, there are bound to be trials-and-errors and those sort of things. But, maybe, is there a possibility that, in a hurry to get a foldable phone out, did Samsung produce something half-baked?
You be the judge. Do let us know your thoughts, if you have any, on this. Also, would you, if you get to buy a foldable phone, go for it?
