TechTheDay

Samsung is no stranger to tragedy: when the news about their phones catching fire came out, they went to full damage control and tried to replace the phones that have ignited, only to find that even the replacement phones also had the tendency to ignite. Even after recalling all the Note 7s and refunding the buyers, it took them a lot of time to build their name back. After a lot of scandals, they are likely expecting that their new Galaxy Fold will rebuild their good name again. But that expectation may be betrayed because just a couple of days ago, reports came in that the first batch of Galaxy Fold phones that were given away as review units have broke.

Broken Screens

And as expected, the problems have something to do with the phone’s foldable dual screens. The reviewers met different problems regarding the foldable screen’s protective cover. Some of the reviewers, thinking that the protective cover was simply a film, tried to pull off the protective cover. Those who did had their phones screens broken. Another person also reported that his phone’s protective cover was peeling. He didn’t peel it himself, but by the next day he was also encountering a lot of problems regarding the screens.

The news spread all over the tech community, especially to those other people who are holding review units. The Galaxy Fold is supposed to be released on April 26, but with this new controversy, it may be postponed or even cancelled. Samsung immediately made a statement, saying that they will investigate the problem regarding the main display. As for the display protectors, Samsung urges those whose phones are still intact not to peel the protective layer. The sample phones didn’t have any messages telling people not to peel the cover and what would be the consequences should they peel it.

Reaction

The reaction to the news is generally negative. The phone is a luxury item and has a price tag of $1,980. It isn’t, thankfully, the type of phone anyone would just buy to replace their old phones, and yet it is reported that the availability for Samsung’s new phone ran out as soon as they started to take preorders. But selling a product that can break this easily as a luxury item, while it is intended to be used every day, feels like Samsung is cheating their customers, though they most likely never intended to do so.

This isn’t enough to signify the end of Samsung’s competitiveness in the market though, and if they are able to fix the problem, they might just pull ahead of their rival, Huawei, who also released their own folding smartphone.

Analysis

This is quite a unique predicament Samsung got into with their new phone. They certainly were not expecting that the users themselves would break the phones on their own. One of the few people who admitted to peeling their own phones said that the impulse came from experience because reviewers would always peel off the screen protectors when unboxing new products. Some, however, felt the reverse because they honestly thought that the new phone was fragile and resisted the temptation to peel the protective screen. And they were right.

The other problem is that the phones’ protective covers themselves are peeling off, which they could probably remedy by telling people that pulling off the protective screen will break the phone. Samsung should create a way for people to protect the screens as the phone’s new form factor makes it incompatible with the covers and screen protectors that are currently out in the market. This won’t do, especially when the product is worth about $2,000. The phone is going to be treated as a long time investment and it will definitely encounter the same problems the iPhone X encountered with regard to their sales.