Samsung's Galaxy Fold Fails

Published: May 3, 2019, 2 p.m.

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Early reviews of Samsung\\u2019s new Galaxy Fold have been critical of the new folding screen, but I think the most hilarious came from iFixit as part of the website\\u2019s product teardown, \\u201cLike a beautiful butterfly, our Fold's life was tragically short \\u2026 Also like a butterfly, this thing is alarmingly fragile.\\u201d

iFixit is a website that provides information to give people more access to repairs. Since some companies don't make parts or manuals readily available, the website is designed to work like one big (and free) repair manual, mostly to encourage people to fix things themselves.

According to iFixit, the phone is easy to get into, but had \\u201coverwhelming fragility\\u201d which isn\\u2019t a good sign if it\\u2019s going to demand a $2,000 price point. The teardown also noted that the Fold\\u2019s design had \\u201ca ton of entry points for dust and other foreign matter to make their way inside\\u201d as well as \\u201cmany different ways for the screen to break.\\u201d

Overall, the teardown reinforced concerns from other design reviews, namely the mechanics of the fold wearing out and the high likelihood that the screen will need to be replaced, which is expensive.

Last week, Samsung put the Galaxy Fold on hold to make \\u201cfurther improvements.\\u201d The company didn\\u2019t give an updated launch date, which was originally set for April 26th.

The company also got iFixit has remove its teardown, which has caused quite a stir. That comment section is an entertaining read.

In the teardown, the authors said \\u201cHopefully it can metamorphose into something a bit more robust to avoid the windshield of fate \\u2026 Maybe with their extra time, Samsung can add a bit more reinforcement and some ingress protection, so these glorious wings may flap another day!\\u201d

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