Yesterday, my Twitter feed was littered with complaints about Samsung’s new foldable phone. Here’s but one example (WARNING: Strobe effect in the video):
https://twitter.com/stevekovach/status/1118571414934753280
This is not simply one unit gone bad. One after another, from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman to Marques Brownlee to the Verge’s Dieter Bohn (the author of the linked article), reports of faulty review units kept rolling in.
Samsung’s response:
A limited number of early Galaxy Fold samples were provided to media for review. We have received a few reports regarding the main display on the samples provided. We will thoroughly inspect these units in person to determine the cause of the matter.
Might be that they were poorly made, rushed to market. Just a thought.
To add to the mess, the protective film that covered the units was so poorly applied, it appeared as if it was designed to be removed. And remove it they did. Here’s Joanna Stern’s Fold. Seem’s pretty ripe for peeling to me.
Samsung’s response continues:
Separately, a few reviewers reported having removed the top layer of the display causing damage to the screen. The main display on the Galaxy Fold features a top protective layer, which is part of the display structure designed to protect the screen from unintended scratches. Removing the protective layer or adding adhesives to the main display may cause damage. We will ensure this information is clearly delivered to our customers.
Oh, Samsung.
Samsung may have just permenantly put the whole foldable thing to bed.
And that is a good and significant contribution to the world.
I think it’s too early to say it’s a good contribution, but I too remain deeply skeptical about the practicality and durability of foldable screens in pocketable devices.
There are going to be applications where this makes sense—the foldable TV that rises from a pedestal, for one; it has a different (round) folding radius.
That said, watching MKBHD’s video, I did get a brief pang of “man, that is cool!” and so remain curious about it.
They just need to rebrand it as the HP TouchPad and that will fix everything.
Permanently? No. Eventually they, or others, will figure out the tech.
Will it actually be a great form factor that customers want? Don’t know yet. Personally I’m not Jonesing for it but I could see other people wanting it.
I think a rolled screen is doable, there’s no hard seams to it as it’s rolled. When you fold it 180 degrees, there’s just too much stress. So I could see it for screens you can hide by rolling them up like on a roller. But folding? Too much wear and tear.
Hrunga makes a good point—full 180 imposes so much stress. Almost any material you have will fail if you crease and uncrease it.
Samsung tries to sidestep this by not going fully folded (if you look at the side profile pictures of the phone folded, it doesn’t sit flat). But it seems still too folded for me.
IMO I’m more curious if someone can engineer two separate screens that are basically adjacent when opened. I’m also curious why that hasn’t been tried more…
This is for chemists to solve.
I think it will only work with a rubber like material.
Or pretty much any one of the first wave of “iPad killers” that nobody else remembers now.
What a sloppy release. At this point, Samsung execs must believe they can bounce back from anything.
Two years from now, they’ll seed review copies of a new device that explodes and kills a room full of people. Analysts will gush about how innovative this product is while criticizing Apple for not killing as many people.
One of the replies to Brownlee’s tweets:
“It’s a first gen phone. It’s not for everyone. What do you people not get? This tech will get refined in the future.”
What do people not get? Why Samsung—or rather its apologists—think it’s reasonable for any product to break after just a few days. I don’t care if it’s first gen or tenth gen, $2,000 or $20. If it’s a concept or prototype, fine. But once released to the market, people expect it to last longer than an ice cream cone.
People really want this to happen, and get emotionally invested into their position. There’s a reason technology fandom frequently dissolves into silly debates and name-calling.
Damn it Jim, I’m doctor not an engineer. How the hell should I know?
The iPad has iOS and the app ecosystem. That’s tough to beat.
BTW, I think we should declare a moratorium on the terms “killer” to describe competitive products and the suffix “gate” for a tech screwup. As in “Foldgate Destroys iPad Killer”.
Multiple moratoriums have gone out on “-killer” and “-gate” for tech writers, for years. There’s always an outlet that keeps spreading it, like an anti-vaxxer’s kid.