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Samsung's $2,000 Galaxy Fold Units Are Failing Left and Right With Disastrous Display Issues (androidpolice.com)

Four Samsung Galaxy Fold review units in the hands of major US tech journalists all experienced device-breaking display failures today. AndroidPolice: Steve Kovach of CNBC, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, and Dieter Bohn of The Verge have reported major failures of their phones' display panels, just two days after receiving them. To say this is a disaster for Samsung is probably underselling it. Well-known YouTuber MKBHD claims to be having similar problems, but hasn't posted any images. Bohn and Kovach claim their displays failed without removing the panel's protective film (Samsung says not to take it off), but both Gurman and Brownlee did. The company has yet to begin shipping the device to consumers. So far it has only handed the phone to select journalists, most of whom reported issue with it today.

31 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. Well, at least... by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...they do not catch fire!

    1. Re:Well, at least... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yet.

    2. Re:Well, at least... by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 2

      Apple's bendable iPhone6 was ahead of it's time yet again. At least it didn't break the screen.

      Actually, it did. I know, because I had an iPhone 6 Plus. Thankfully, I was able to bend the screen back & get it working long enough to get the full trade in value for an iPhone 7 Plus.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    3. Re:Well, at least... by rtb61 · · Score: 2

      The explanation is pretty clear. Variable thermal expansion and contraction it would be quite bad across the fold. Thing of things like only partially folded out, so one half of the screen in the shade and the other half in the sun and all the stress loaded onto the fold. Also if one side of the phone is hotter than the other side so CPU and Graphics chip pumping out heat on half the screen and the battery acting as a heat sink on the other half. Basically no so much bad production as an inherently unsound thermal design. Something that would have been difficult to test for without a production unit under normal use for an extended time in variable climatic conditions.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  2. A First: Device failing literally and figuratively by JoeyRox · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Fold is literally failing left and right [both left and right screens] and figuratively left and right.

  3. You got to know when to hold them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    and not to fold them

  4. Don't think display film is key... by SuperKendall · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I saw a few Twtter users partially blaming themselves for removing a protective film that Samsung says you are not supposed to remove...

    For one thing, if it was a layer that users should be removing, don't make it removable like the screen protectors most other phones ship with.

    Secondly, there's no way removing that film would have helped since it seems like failures are often coming from stuff trapped in the hinges that bulges outward into the screen? Regardless screens should not fail so quickly because a protective film is removed.

    I'm having trouble visualizing how these failures happen though, one tweet I saw said something got trapped in the hinge and bulged outward. How could anything get trapped in a hinge that would do that though? Folded the hinge is on the outside, unfolding it just opens the two halves up, I don't see how it could apply mechanical pressure to the screen from the back...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Don't think display film is key... by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 3, Interesting

      As one guy wrote: "I got this far peeling it off before the display spazzed and blacked out." That sounds like pulling of the film wasn't all that easy, and caused the screen to break.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
  5. You are just holding it wrong... by bobbied · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ooops.. Wrong manufacturer.. Sorry. .

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  6. Novel solution by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, they appear to have come up with a very novel solution that problem: they make sure the screen fails more rapidly than the battery.

  7. stock market song by goombah99 · · Score: 5, Funny

    You've got to know when to hold 'em ( Apple antenna)
    Know when to fold 'em (samsung disaster phone)
    Know when to walk away (Apple to Qualcom)
    And know when to run ( intel 5G)
    You never count your money ( Lyft stock price)
    When you're sittin' at the table
    There'll be time enough for countin'
    When the dealin's done

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
    1. Re:stock market song by eepok · · Score: 3, Funny

      When you're sittin' at the table (Blue Apron stock; $9.34 IPO, $1 right now)

    2. Re:stock market song by fuzznutz · · Score: 2

      When you're sittin' at the table (Blue Apron stock; $9.34 IPO, $1 right now)

      Is that why they've been spamming the Hell out of me? You try something once and then they spam until they bankrupt begging you to come back.

  8. This is a technology by Lucas123 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    looking for a purpose.

    1. Re:This is a technology by pintpusher · · Score: 2

      It would be vastly more efficient if we just gave corps their profits up front instead of waiting around for them to sell us crap we don't want.

      --
      man, I feel like mold.
    2. Re:This is a technology by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Would be easier if clothing manufacturers just gave us bigger pockets.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:This is a technology by cayenne8 · · Score: 2

      Carry a smaller gun. It's a firearm not a penis substitute.

      Well, I like to carry as small a firearm as I can, but you gotta balance round effectiveness vs number of rounds vs size of handgun (conceivability and comfort all day).

      Not sure what penis had to do with it....?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  9. Shocked! by apoc.famine · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you!

    Who would have guessed that the first foldable screens would not be ready for prime-time, rushed out as they were in desperate hope of being the next killer feature to drive up plummeting smartphone sales?

    --
    Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    1. Re:Shocked! by roc97007 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you!

      No no, that's the next model. This one just stops working.

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  10. Does anyone think this was a good idea? by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Does anyone really think a foldable color touch-screen was a good idea? For this to fail before it was even shipped to customers would be no surprise at all.

  11. Who would have guessed? by plague911 · · Score: 2

    Seriously, only a masochist would buy an early adopter version of a flexible phone display tech. I actually like Samsung and consider them among the better vendors, there was no way this was going to work out cleanly.

  12. not Apple so Not A Problem by Uberbah · · Score: 2

    Bendy phones, walled gardens, holding it wrong.... it's only a problem when it's from Cupertino. So this will be a two day news story, like when Samsung had to recall an entire phone model because the batteries were blowing up and starting on fire.

  13. Samsung market leader in "wrong" by Uberbah · · Score: 2

    Five models of Samsung phones on the first page alone. But like Samsung having to recall an entire line of bomb phones due to faulty battery design, this will be a two day story. Because it's not Apple.

  14. Re:A First: Device failing literally and figurativ by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    The Fold is literally failing left and right [both left and right screens]

    So the prior burning ones "failed centrally"?

    Middly? That sounds bigly wrong.

  15. Landscape Mode by rjstanford · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Reports are now coming in that if you rotate them into landscape mode they will start failing top and bottom instead.

    Samsung's already filed for 73 patents in this new and innovative market segment.

    --
    You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
  16. making sense... by dAzED1 · · Score: 2

    Step 1: convince people smartphones were more convenient due to their size, so that all content gets shifted to assuming mobile

    Step2: gradually increase screen size while dramatically increasing price, until the size is so big you have to fold it in half to put it in your pocket, and the price is substantially more than a laptop of equal power

    Step3: ???

    Step4: profit!

    I have a fold-able device that works well, it's called a laptop. Has an even bigger screen than this thing! And is much better at content consumption, while being exponentially better at content creation.

  17. Be fair by dhaen · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It took courage to release this thing. OK it's not quite right yet but they'll learn a lot about how stupid and clumsy people can be. The next model will be great.

  18. why wasn't this tested on employees? by roc97007 · · Score: 2

    It's a new personal electronics device. Why wasn't it first passed out to Samsung employees for real world tests? That could have saved them a whole lotta bad press. If, as it seems, the technology just isn't ready for prime time, they could have quietly canceled the project. Too late now.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    1. Re:why wasn't this tested on employees? by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Why wasn't it first passed out to Samsung employees for real world tests?

      It probably was. No amount of in house testing can prepare people for the stupid shit a wider audience will subject your device through. No amount of in house testing will actually subject a device to real world tests either as experts or people who stand to lose something treat their devices differently from a wide audience.

      I'm reminded of Sonim showing off the "unbreakable mobile phone" at CES. Sure they demonstrated being unable to hammer a nail into the screen, but the BBC reporter made short work of the phone https://www.dailymotion.com/vi...

  19. Re:I predicted this by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2

    Thin hinges have been reliably failing since the 90's.

    At some point they'll just run stout power and ground in the case and do the display with really-short-range gigahertz wireless.There are probably some niche applications but it may be too small of a niche for Samsung.

    --
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    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)