Samsung’s Galaxy Fold Screen Gets Busted

We’ve seen worries about scratches on expensive phones and debris breaking the keyboard on expensive MacBooks, but a piece of debris distorting the screen on a $1,980 phone after one day of use feels like it’s on an entirely different level.

That’s what happened to a reviewer at The Verge, who reported that he had barely a moment to snap a few pics with the expensive smartphone before it went bust.  “It’s a distressing thing to discover just two days after receiving my review unit. More distressing is that the bulge eventually pressed sharply enough into the screen to break it.”   And this was not an isolated incident.  Steve Kovach also tweeted that his broke after two days.

Reviewers have also reported that the crease between the two sides of the screen on the Galaxy Fold are clearly visible, but when using the phone, it doesn’t seem to make a big difference. It’s easy to talk about it as a small first-generation compromise you have to make for what is otherwise a wonder of engineering: a tablet that folds in half.

Another thing people are worried about is the plastic screen scratching or picking up nicks easily. After just two days reviewers reported small, but multiple dings. If you look closely at the edges of the screen, there’s a sort of built-in screen protector on the front of the device. Samsung calls it a “polymer layer.” It is not designed to be removed. (Please don’t try it if you get your hands on a Fold.)

It’s a lesson that some reviewers found out the hard way.  Mark Gurman of Bloomberg also broke his Galaxy Fold, but that’s perhaps because he removed this protective polymer layer that looks like, and he may have mistaken it for, a screen protector.  Marques “MKBHD” Brownlee confirmed he, too, had to get a replacement unit after peeling off the outer layer.  Supposedly the retail units of the Galaxy Fold will include a warning about not removing the protective layer, but the review units didn’t.

Every phone with movable parts is going to have more points of failure than a fully sealed, static phone. So it’s natural to say that you need to treat it with more care than usual.  But reviewers found out that this phone was not nearly as durable as expected. The hinge always felt solid and well-built. That impression of (relative) durability is obviously as broken as the flexing screen.  If you have to worry about stuff getting underneath the screen on top of the usual care and maintenance, that’s a lot to think about when carrying around your phone.

It took about 24 hours for Samsung to respond to the reviewer, issuing a statement saying “we will fully inspect these units,”  issuing a warning about not removing the protective layer, as well as replacing the busted unit.

So while the crease and the nicks feel like compromises you could live with, a mysterious bulge that breaks the screen is something else entirely — especially one that appears just a day after pretty normal use. It’s a problem that is unacceptable on a phone that costs this much.

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Photo Credit: Vitaliy Gorban / Shutterstock.com