Just days after Samsung unveiled the highly anticipated final version of its folding phone, numerous influential tech bloggers are reporting that their screens have completely broken.
The reported problems with the Galaxy Fold, a device that is as complex as it is expensive, echo Samsung’s Note 7 debacle in 2016, when numerous incidents of phones exploding from overheated batteries prompted a major recall.
Photos on social media showing problems with the new folding device, ranging from flickering screens to bumps in the frame, caused Samsung shares to drop by 3 per cent between Wednesday and Thursday.
“It’s broken,” Dieter Bohn from The Verge tweeted a day after receiving the device, showing a bump between the screen and the hinge that had caused his phone to stop working.
“Something happened to my Galaxy Fold screen and caused a bulge. I don’t know how it happened, and I’m waiting to hear back from Samsung.”
Marques Brownlee, a blogger with millions of social media followers, tweeted that his display “spazzed and blacked out” after he tried to remove what appeared to be a protective layer from the screen of his phone.
Meanwhile, footage from CNBC reporter Steve Kovach showed the left half of the phone’s display flickering on and off after a day’s use.
Samsung told dpa it was aware of the reports of failing devices and that it would “thoroughly inspect these units in person to determine the cause of the matter.”
A Samsung spokesman said that removing the phone’s “protective layer or adding adhesives to the main display” can cause damage, which may account for some of the problems.
With a folding device from Chinese rival Huawei also in the works, Samsung has been racing to conquer a new market for folding phones.
The South Korean tech giant unveiled the production-ready version of its US$1,980 foldable tablet smartphone to journalists last Tuesday, and the Android device is set to be launched in the US on April 26, with the European market following on May 3.
At the heart of the device is a 7.3-inch foldable interior display made possible by a complex hinge between two parts of the device.
The folding screen allows the device to be used as a classic smartphone with a smaller display on the outside, or opened up to create a larger tablet.
Despite the high prices, market researchers see plenty of potential for devices like the Galaxy Fold, and Gartner has said it expects around 30 million units to be sold in 2023, with folding units accounting for around 5 per cent of the premium segment.
In the medium term, Gartner said it expects more foldable smartphones to be released with a different form factor. But if Samsung’s problems with the Galaxy Fold don’t disappear quickly, rival manufacturers might well wait before adopting their own folding smartphone designs. – dpa
