The Samsung Galaxy Fold has yet to hit the shelves on April 26 in the United States, but early testers are reporting that their review units are already breaking after a few days of use.
According to the majority of the cases, the smartphone breaks when the "polymer layer," which looks a lot like a plastic screen protector, on the flexible display is removed. However, there are two reviewers who say they didn't remove it. One says his unit started to form a bulge on the crease that eventually broke it, while another says one half of the screen began flickering after one day.
Galaxy Fold Breaking Here And There
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg says that his Galaxy Fold's screen broke after just two days of use.
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
He followed up the tweet to explain that he removed the film layer and suspects it contributed to the problem. YouTube user Marques Brownlee is also in the same boat, where he peeled the layer of film off and broke the screen of his Galaxy Fold.
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
Apparently, there's a warning label about it, but according to the reviewers, theirs didn't include it. This could be a matter of a difference between the retail and review versions, but it isn't clear.
Dear future #GalaxyFold owners, I know I always say "No one ever read the instructions"... PLEASE READ THIS ONE!!! (This is the wrap over the screen of the Galaxy Fold) pic.twitter.com/LuQPRfDZIE — Des (@askdes) April 17, 2019
Meanwhile, Steve Kovach of CNBC reports that his unit's left-side display started to flicker after one day of use. He also says that he didn't remove the polymer layer.
After one day of use... pic.twitter.com/VjDlJI45C9 — Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) April 17, 2019
Dieter Bohn of The Verge also says he didn't remove the plastic film. The problem with his Galaxy Fold was a bulge that began to develop on the crease of the display. It's unclear what caused this, but he says it could be debris that got stuck underneath or something else entirely, like a hardware defect.
Another Smartphone Fiasco?
This isn't the first time that Samsung has had its phones breaking once they were in the hands of the users — or in this case, reviewers.
Back in 2016, the Galaxy Note was a hot topic. It would overheat and explode, and the South Korean brand had to do a lot of damage control then. Of course, the smartphone was eventually fixed, and it was rebranded as the Galaxy Note Fan Edition or FE.
Now the Galaxy Fold isn't bursting into flames or anything like that, but for a $2,000 device, it shouldn't be as fragile as this. Not to mention it spells bad news for those who preordered it.
