The less-than-fun thing about new tech is that it usually doesn’t work the first time out.
Are you thinking of getting the Samsung Galaxy Fold? You may want to think twice before hitting the pre-order button. Samsung’s current flagship device is already encountering several issues even before its official release on April 26, according to several early first impression articles by reviewers
In fact, many are saying that Samsung’s first foldable smartphone may be “a risky purchase,” considering all the issues that are already surfacing on the device mere days after they first got it.
The issues are ranging from bulging displays, blacked-out LCDs, and worst of all, broken portions of the folding part of the screen after just a day of using the device. This is obviously a great disappointment to the reviewers, especially considering the high price tag for the foldable device. At almost $2,000, the device is nothing like the reviewers expected.
One reviewer for The Verge, Dieter Bohn, wrote an entire post about how his Samsung Galaxy Fold review unit broke literally two days after receiving it. “You can see a small bulge right on the crease of my Galaxy Fold review unit,” Bohn says in his post. “It’s just enough to slightly distort the screen, and I can feel it under my finger. There’s something pressing up against the screen at the hinge, right there in the crease. My best guess is that it’s a piece of debris, something harder than lint for sure. It’s possible that it’s something else, though, like the hinge itself on a defective unit pressing up on the screen.”
Several other reviewers are taking to Twitter to share their experiences.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman tweets a 3-part thread beginning with “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.”
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
YouTube tech reviewer Marques Brownlee says, “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.”
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
CNBC’s Steve Kovach wasn’t able to escape the same fate. The tech editor tweeted a video showing his review unit flickering on and off at one side of the screen, “after one day of use”.
After one day of use… pic.twitter.com/VjDlJI45C9
— Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) April 17, 2019
Given its current issues, it’s probably wise to skip getting the Samsung Galaxy Fold on release day, at least for now.
