Samsungs $2,000 breaking folding phone

[Themius]

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/17/1...flexible-bulge

Look closely at the picture above, and you can see a small bulge right on the crease of my Galaxy Fold review unit. 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.

It’s a distressing thing to discover just two days after receiving my review unit. More distressing is that the bulge eventually pressed sharply enough into the screen to break it.

We’ve seen worries about scratches on expensive phones and debris breaking the keyboard on expensive MacBooks, but a piece of debris distorting the screen on a $1,980 phone after one day of use feels like it’s on an entirely different level

For all the talk of $1,000 iPhones (which run the same price as 1k Samsungs) I'm surprised I haven't seen any talk of the 2k current failure that is Samsungs fold. Seems like a bad track record within a few years. First exploding phones now 2k phones that seem to just be poorly planned out for an 8 year endeavor.

[Has lost its way]

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/17/1...flexible-bulge



For all the talk of $1,000 iPhones (which run the same price as 1k Samsungs) I'm surprised I haven't seen any talk of the 2k current failure that is Samsungs fold. Seems like a bad track record within a few years. First exploding phones now 2k phones that seem to just be poorly planned out for an 8 year endeavor.

I think people are just not surprised that this turned out to be a terrible idea.

[Lawlhero]

These phones are getting ridiculous. I'm perfectly happy with my galaxy s3. Had it for years with no problems.

[VladimirM]

There are so many phones that work pretty damn well. But people tend to feel the need to get newer ones.
Prestige, yeah, but come on...

[lollerlaban]

These phones are getting ridiculous. I'm perfectly happy with my galaxy s3. Had it for years with no problems.

Except S3 has almost zero app support these days which is crucial

[Boricha]

I think folding phones are a likely direction. This is just the first gen limited release. I would expect them to improve dramatically in the next few years.

[horbindr]

that thing is the size of a tablet.... so just buy one of those + a pocket sized phone + a fancy bag for your tablet and still have a lot left?

cant imagine a use case for regularly needing a tablet sized screen but only having room to carry a (big) phone.

[Ealyssa]

What was it the iPhone 6 that apple was forced to replace batteries for?

My iPhone 6 still works flawlessly. On the latest OS nonetheless. Good luck finding same OS update on any android...

Switched to the latest Xs just for the e-sim, as I travel a lot and it's just nicer than hard switching your sim card (and loosing completly your main sim connection).

That "Apple is garbage, Android is better" fanboying is ridiculous. Yes android is the go to if you want cheap phones. But the flagships shinies are just the same price if not double than Apple. Fanboying for an OS is retarded, use what you want, buy what you think its best for you and why the fuck would you need to push other to follow your choice ?

[horbindr]

I think folding phones are a likely direction. This is just the first gen limited release. I would expect them to improve dramatically in the next few years.

with old flip phones i imagine it was because of technical details to keep the portable size smaller.

but this? whats the added value? convenience or usability doesn't seem to be it. i always thought they would go for for bendable phones for carry comfort or exotic phone shapes with this tech, but folding phones just seems so strange for people who carry phones in their pocket. i can sort of see it for people who carry their phone in a purse orso, but only barely.

[Themius]

Plenty of iPhones have been utter garbage. What was it the iPhone 6 that apple was forced to replace batteries for?

Competition will always lose to cooperation

They didn't force replacement batteries. They throttled batteries so they wouldn't burn themselves out and brick the phones and they offered replacement batteries for a discounted price.

- - - Updated - - -

My iPhone 6 still works flawlessly. On the latest OS nonetheless. Good luck finding same OS update on any android...

Switched to the latest Xs just for the e-sim, as I travel a lot and it's just nicer than hard switching your sim card (and loosing completly your main sim connection).

That "Apple is garbage, Android is better" fanboying is ridiculous. Yes android is the go to if you want cheap phones. But the falship shiny are just the same price of not double than Apple. Fanboying for an OS is retarded, use what you want, buy what you think its best for you and why the fuck would you need to push other to follow your choice ?

I had the iPhone 6s for a long while I only upgraded to the x last year because it was near free for me. I think I ended up spending roughly about $95 after incentives. How could I not.

[schwarzkopf]

I think people are just not surprised that this turned out to be a terrible idea.

1. It is an awesome idea
2. FOUR phones had problems
3. TWO of those phones were broken by the reviewers

This crap comes out every time a new innovation appears - people get so excited about whinging that they don't focus on reality.

PS: iPhone user here.. I think Samsung is doing great at innovation since Apple stopped doing so years ago.

[Themius]

Maybe it was the 5?

Dont get me wrong apple and android are garbage. My point is they are both bad and we can do better.

- - - Updated - - -



So if your battery dies you just have to buy a new phone. Until they got called out on it and were coerced into replacing batteries

I'm confused what the hubbub is about.

There are two options for old phones:

1. Allow them to run at full potential shortening the lifespan of the phone so they die sooner forcing customers to buy new phones.

2. Throttle old phones so they don't die extending the lifespan by a few years but since they're slow customers will need to either upgrade battery or buy new phone or just deal with a slightly slower old phone.

Literally apple went with the option that cost them money as it meant fewer people were forced to buy phones.

This is also one of the main issues regarding apple. Their phones last a long time with long support so getting new customers to upgrade is hard. Doing something like this, which extends the life of the phone isn't in the benefit of apple's bottomline but just their philosophy of customer satisfaction.

Before your phone would slow down and you wouldn't know why.

Then we found out why

and people freaked out over the why even though it literally is in the best interest of the customer because people are stupid.

[Shuji V2]

1. It is an awesome idea
2. FOUR phones had problems
3. TWO of those phones were broken by the reviewers

This crap comes out every time a new innovation appears - people get so excited about whinging that they don't focus on reality.

PS: iPhone user here.. I think Samsung is doing great at innovation since Apple stopped doing so years ago.

It could be three phones that broke because of the reviewers, one of them put clay on the phone and it might have gotten stuck in the hinge and broke it. But yeah, we need to see how this goes when it actually is getting into the hands of consumers.

[Themius]

It could be three phones that broke because of the reviewers, one of them put clay on the phone and it might have gotten stuck in the hinge and broke it. But yeah, we need to see how this goes when it actually is getting into the hands of consumers.

Which sounds like extremely poor design.

For instance, it even says you can't put a screen protector on it because it may cause damage. There weren't that many review units for four to be broken is tremendous.

[Amalaric]

It costs $3000 here in Sweden... looks like they think that there are a lot of dummies in this country.

[horbindr]

Which sounds like extremely poor design.

For instance, it even says you can't put a screen protector on it because it may cause damage. There weren't that many review units for four to be broken is tremendous.

isn't that one of the primary advantages of folding though? that the screen is inherently more protected?

or well, protected from scratches at least. but i'd also expect a phone of this price to not break when you inevitably get some paper or even something like a coin inside the phone when its folded up.

[Nasuuna]

My iPhone 6 still works flawlessly. On the latest OS nonetheless. Good luck finding same OS update on any android...

Switched to the latest Xs just for the e-sim, as I travel a lot and it's just nicer than hard switching your sim card (and loosing completly your main sim connection).

That "Apple is garbage, Android is better" fanboying is ridiculous. Yes android is the go to if you want cheap phones. But the falship shiny are just the same price of not double than Apple. Fanboying for an OS is retarded, use what you want, buy what you think its best for you and why the fuck would you need to push other to follow your choice ?

Meh, I've always said apple products are double the price of what they are worth for amazing customer service. They are also typically more simple and new user friendly.

[Independent voter]

I love big phones. Hope they work the kinks out and the price gets a lot lower.

[Themius]

isn't that one of the primary advantages of folding though? that the screen is inherently more protected?

or well, protected from scratches at least. but i'd also expect a phone of this price to not break when you inevitably get some paper or even something like a coin inside the phone when its folded up.

If this was released to general populace could you imagine the nightmare?

[Varitok]

What are you expecting? This is first gen of an extremely new technology. Come back to me when you see the failure rates of first gen OLED tvs.