Samsung is basking in the success of the recent introduction of its two next-generation smartphones, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, but a recent report of an unfixable hardware issue on the devices could curtail buyer enthusiasm.
Samsung just introduced its two new flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, on March 1 to great fanfare. After a less than impressive debut for last year's Galaxy S5, which was criticized for being too similar to its predecessor the S4, Samsung revamped its design and development team and came up with something new. Although some critics found the Galaxy S6 too close to the iPhone 6 in design, the S6 Edge with its dual-edge display was heralded as truly innovative.
Samsung seems to have a hit on its hands, and recently announced that 20 million Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge devices had already been preordered, despite the fact that many carriers and regions haven't even made the phones available for preorder yet. Verizon is the only U.S. carrier to announce preorder plans.
A recent report, however, casts doubt on the reliability of the hardware, specifically the touchscreen display on both models.The report and accompanying video indicates an issue with the bezels of the screen not or barely registering touch swipes, or handwriting and scribbles as shown in the video. The issue seems more pronounced on the Galaxy S6 than on the S6 Edge, but considering the special feature of the Edge is user ability to control elements of the device from the edge of the screen, this could mean trouble for Samsung.
That is, if it really is an issue. As soon as the report came out, naysayers trashed its conclusions, arguing that the decreased sensitivity on the screen edges is a built-in protection against unwanted sensitivity when holding the phone at its edges. Owners of other Samsung smartphones including the Galaxy S5 pointed out that their smartphones have the same setup and that it is fully intentional on Samsung's part. An additional image, however, does show two non-Samsung devices tested with a similar technology and indicates full edge sensitivity which apparently does not interfere with where users hold the device.
Until the devices are actually released, we won't know for sure if this is a real problem, but in the billion dollar smartphone wars, it wouldn't surprise us if one of Samsung's rivals or its supporters is planting this concern in potential buyer's minds, and that "edgegate" really turns out to be a nonissue.
