Update (26 April 2019, 10:20AM): Clearly, iFixit’s teardown of the Samsung Galaxy Fold has pinched a nerve with Samsung. The Korean brand had requested through iFixit’s partner – who provided the company with the unit – that the DIY site take down the dissection of the phone.
It’s not an overstatement to say that Samsung’s plans to rollout its Galaxy Fold smartphone has not gone according to plan. Tech sites who received early units of the device faced a myriad of issues with its display. Now, a teardown guide of the phone has been published by iFixit; its dissection showing why its display failed the way it did.
The breakdown shows that Samsung actually spent a lot of time and effort in the folding mechanism of the Galaxy Fold. The hinges and folding mechanisms are intricate as they are well-built. Unfortunately, the deep, 7mm gap in the middle of it was clearly an oversight.
The gap itself is risky by design and as you’ve no doubt seen, it’s also the reason the Galaxy Fold’s display has that unsightly crease running right the middle of the already delicate display. To make matters worse, the breakdown shows that the display lacked adequate protection against dust and debris, which would eventually make its way into the gap and ultimately damaging the OLED display. This, on top of the flimsy protective layer that led to the display’s demise when removed.
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It gets worse. The Galaxy Fold’s biggest, if not the greatest problem, was the gaps located on the back of the hinge. iFixit points out yet again in one of its steps that the spine is “flanked by massive gaps” that its picks had no problem making its way into. Samsung has already postponed the launch of the Galaxy Fold – both globally and in Malaysia – in light of the issue affecting the phone.
This isn’t the first time that a Samsung smartphone has had issues; lest we forget about the fiasco that was the Galaxy Note7 and its faulty battery. But in this scenario, it is important to remember that the Galaxy Fold is filled with new design elements. As such, it’s expected that the device would run into issues. At the very least, the issues (some of them, at least) chose to rear their ugly heads before the phones made circulation.
