Samsung’s new Galaxy Fold has just gotten into the hands of reviewers and, already, there appears to be a problem, and probably one you could have pretty easily predicted.
CNBC‘s review unit has broken.
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
So has The Verge‘s.
Me, @stevekovach, and @markgurman have Review Units of the Galaxy Fold with broken screens.https://t.co/AR56AV7RLa
— Dieter Bohn (@backlon) April 17, 2019
Both Mark Gurman from Bloomberg and Marques Brownlee of MKBHD on YouTube fame peeled off a protective film that reviewers were apparently told not to pull off, but that doesn’t seem to say or remind people anywhere on the packaging or device not to pull off.
The phone comes with this protective layer/film. Samsung says you are not supposed to remove it. I removed it, not knowing you’re not supposed to (consumers won’t know either). It appeared removable in the left corner, so I took it off. I believe this contributed to the problem. pic.twitter.com/fU646D2zpY
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) April 17, 2019
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
A few thoughts:
- Hardware is hard and design is in the details. Typically, I’d say there’s no amount of QA in the world that can prepare you for a million, let along a hundred million customers hitting your product. But this was relatively few reviewers and that film, and these screen issues, could have been better prepared for.
- Neither 5G nor foldable screen technology is really ready for prime time. There is absolutely no advantage to being first if the road isn’t finished and you drive off the cliff.
- Either way, while it’s cool and all we get the future a little faster, at almost $2K this also feels a like paying an awful lot for the privilege of a public beta test, which is the opposite of cool.
Hopefully, these are birthing issues and Samsung can pull out, add some kind of sticker warning, pray the film doesn’t peel or scratch off on its own through normal use, and do what it did with the Note and Edge — Iterate into an impressive product.
Keep it locked to Android Central for ongoing coverage.
Credit/blame @mdrndad for the hed.
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Source of the article – iMore