Latest Foldable Smartphones Experiencing Failures and Durability Issues

[RogerWilco]

Using paying consumers as hardware beta testers is bad juju. Maybe something will come of it in the future, but I'm not holding my breath. The people who think it's the work of a moment to overcome these issues are not engineers and don't understand how stuff works.

Damn right, almost as bad as the company that shipped expensive laptops with a new “butterfly” keyboard mechanism that was woefully unreliable.
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"...we just can't ship junk" -- steve jobs
still true today, it's quite tempting to try to be the first, but you should really be the best.

Can you imagine Jobs calling in the lead design people for the butterfly keyboard after he used it for a while and it started dropping letters? That would be a doozy.

 

[DNichter]

The technology just simply isn’t ready for the market. Of course it’s admirable what they’ve created, but it’s pointless when wrapped up in a junk product. I’ve said it since the beginning. Only when the device adds value and is better than what we have today, you release it. Otherwise, back to the drawing board. Samsung is desperate.

 

[cmaier]

I really like the idea of a small phone that folds into a normal size one, way more useful than the phone to tablet folding I think. Hopefully the growing pains get sorted out as the technology improves.

I;d much rather have phone to tablet. Once a phone is small enough to fit in my pocket, which even large iPhones are, making them smaller (and thicker) is of no advantage to me.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Damn right, almost as bad as the company that shipped expensive laptops with a new “butterfly” keyboard mechanism that was woefully unreliable.

Yup. That was also not good.

This isn’t about Apple, though. Or keyboards.

 

[Johns12]

I'm amazed at the overblown responses to this thread. The original article listed 2 phones with problems. I have no idea how many of the 1000's/100,000s/1,000,000s shipped have problems. Do you?

 

[theorist9]

Perhaps screen technology isn't there yet. But there might be a market for an alternative product, one that is designed for people who want to get work done and want a very compact phone. That would be one that:

1) Used two separate displays separated by a microhinge at the fold, thus eliminating the need to fold the display. Yes, with a line bisecting the screen, this wouldn't work for watching movies (and might be subpar for playing games) but could work well for everything else.

2) When opened, would be about as big as a standard smart phone (making it very compact in L x W when folded in half).

 

[AustinIllini]

bUt aPpLe doesn't HaVe a FoLdAbLe

aPpLe HaS sO mAnY qC pRoBlEmS
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Perhaps screen technology isn't there yet. But there might be a market for an alternative product, one that is designed for people who want to get work done and want a very compact phone. That would be one that:

1) Used two separate displays separated by a microhinge at the fold, thus eliminating the need to fold the display. Yes, with a line bisecting the screen, this wouldn't work for watching movies (and might be subpar for playing games) but could work well for everything else.

2) When opened, would be about as big as a standard smart phone (making it very compact in L x W when folded in half).

You'll know when it's ready when Apple releases one.

 

[vegetassj4]

What if they make a phone that folds in the opposite direction? It would get stronger!

 

[forza1976]

Why do we need these?

 

[coolfactor]

So many companies trying to be first to make a worthwhile foldable, and yet it remains a solution in search of a problem.

People *want* bigger screens, but don't want to carry around a tablet. That seems like a problem worth solving to me.

 

[DevNull0]

Can you imagine Jobs calling in the lead design people for the butterfly keyboard after he used it for a while and it started dropping letters? That would be a doozy.

Exactly. Steve was passionate about the products and the butterfly keyboard never would have shipped with him.

When you have a CEO who takes out TV ads to brag that he doesn't know what a computer is and publicly asks why anyone would buy one, you get a butterfly keyboard. Nobody upstairs at Apple uses the product, so nobody cares about the product.

 

[cmaier]

People *want* bigger screens, but don't want to carry around a table. That seems like a problem worth solving to me.

If they just want a bigger screen, AR glasses may be the better long term solution.

 

[Val-kyrie]

Is this really unexpected?

Foldable smartphones are the latest device trend, and companies that include Motorola and Samsung have released new foldable smartphones over the course of the last few weeks.

The first foldable smartphone from Samsung, the Galaxy Fold, had major durability issues that caused its launch to be delayed. Samsung's newest foldable device, the Galaxy Z Flip, seems to be faring a bit better so far, but there are some complaints about the build quality and problems with the display. The same is true of Motorola's latest smartphone, the RAZR.

Motorola RAZR foldable smartphone, image via Ray Wong​

Over the weekend, YouTuber JerryRigEverything tested the durability of the Galaxy Z Flip's display, which is made of a bendable "Ultra Thin Glass" for the first time rather than the plastic material used for the Galaxy Fold.

The testing suggests that the display of the Galaxy Z Flip scratches like plastic and isn't resistant to scratching or other damage. A fingernail on the display was able to make a permanent dent, which is concerning for a smartphone that costs $1,380.

In response to that video, Samsung told CNBC in a statement that the display should be "handled with care" and that it has the same protective layer used in the Galaxy Fold, which perhaps explains some of the scratching.

Another Samsung Galaxy Z Flip user on Twitter got his smartphone, opened the box, opened the phone, and then had it crack right down the middle. He suggests that it could have been due to cold weather.

Image via Twitter​

Cracking at the fold was a problem that plagued the Galaxy Fold, and Samsung does warn against pressing hard on the screen and making sure there's nothing on the screen when it's folded closed, but a crack down the middle right out of the box is unexpected behavior.

The $1,500 Motorola RAZR, another foldable smartphone that came out in February, is also seeing durability issues. Ray Wong from Input over the weekend said that the site's Motorola RAZR has a display that's peeling apart just a week after it was purchased.

The damage is more than just cosmetic - the touchscreen is broken and the warping on the surface makes touches and taps unresponsive. Wong isn't sure what caused the damage, but as with the Galaxy Z Flip crack, he speculates that it could be related to cold temperatures.

There have been a few rumors suggesting Apple is working on foldable display technology, but given the super high price points of foldable displays and the ongoing durability issues that have impacted every foldable smartphone to date, Apple may be planning to hold off on a foldable iPhone.

Apple in early February shared a patent for a foldable device with movable flaps to prevent the display from creasing, and that's the latest that we've heard about an Apple device with foldable display technology.

Interestingly, Apple has also separately patented a self-heating display for a foldable device to prevent damage in cold weather, which seems to be a significant issue for foldable devices at the current time.

Of course, Apple patents a lot of technologies that don't ever come to fruition, so whether or not these patents and other related patents hint at Apple's work on a foldable iPhone remains to be seen. At the current time, there are no rumors indicating a folding iPhone is something that we can expect to see in the near future, and certainly not in 2020. The 2020 iPhone lineup will be similar to the 2019 iPhone lineup, though Apple is planning to implement new technologies like 5G connectivity and 3D cameras.

Article Link: Latest Foldable Smartphones Experiencing Failures and Durability Issues

 

[Nate101]

Next level will be when a signal can sent to a chip on your your optic nerve making your phone screen appear in front of you in the form of an interactive hologram only you can see. No glasses or External hardware. Just a signal direct from your carrier. 🙄

 

[EVGabe]

The fact that people are buying these and expecting them to last is kind of mind-boggling!

 

[[AUT] Thomas]

Anyone remember 3D TVs with shutter glasses?
The industry thought we need those.
We didn't.

Foldable smartphones are pretty much the same. The bend radius is way to small to make this work practically. And even if we do the efforts are not worth it and there are some further drawbacks...
Current smartphones with their 0 moving parts are simply perfect in durability and waterresistance.

There's a market for bendable screens. But smartphones are not part of it.

 

[TheSkywalker77]

The sky is blue, grass is green, the earth is round, foldable phones aren’t ready yet, the earth orbits the sun. This isn’t anything new.

 

[fokmik]

Everybody using now the customers to test their hardware...butterfly keyboards, foldable devices

 

[arvinsim]

Good. Now refine and iron it out. Everyone wins.

 

[Stridr69]

A phone with a glass or glass-like screen that folds is having design and durability issues? In other news water is wet. This design concept is great in theory. Kind of like the AirPower. In practice, good luck with that. I’m sure at some point if enough resources are put in the design may work but will the R&D costs and bad press that go to vendors who rush their concepts to market be worth it? I don’t think so.

If I were Tim Cook I would have a team of talented engineers working on this but I’d be loathe to rush anything to market unless or until they nail it in the same way they nailed multitouch prior to making the decision to bring the iPhone to market. Apple is presently doing this with Touch ID. They’ve been working on under the screen Touch ID functionality for years now. They won’t ship a product with it until it’s ready.

Like iOS 13?

 

[fairuz]

So many companies trying to be first to make a worthwhile foldable, and yet it remains a solution in search of a problem.

The problem is already present, that phones are too big to fit in a pocket comfortably. I'd rather just have a smaller phone, but they don't want to do that, so this is what we get.

 

[Flow39]

I have yet to see the fascination with a folding phone. What benefit does this offer me over a standard bar-style phone that we've seen since the original iPhone? It looks more futuristic because it folds, but honestly, extra moving parts=component failure, just like what we're seeing now and just like what we expected from this fad.

Just like TV makers scratching at anything to enhance the TV market with "3D", smartphone makers are scratching at anything to enhance the market by giving us a folding phone that no one is asking for AND that provides no tangible benefit over the current crop of phones on the market.

 

[k1121j]

I have a 65” OLED on the wall and a 10 foot projection screen that comes down from the ceiling in front of it when I want to use the projector. Looking forward to the day when I can replace them both with a roll-up OLED that comes down from the ceiling.

same here id replace my 110 inch with a rollable TV in a second

 

[cmaier]

The problem is already present, that phones are too big to fit in a pocket comfortably. I'd rather just have a smaller phone, but they don't want to do that, so this is what we get.

A more reliable solution would seem to be bigger pockets.

I have absolutely no problem with my 11 pro max in my Levi‘s or suit pants back pocket.

 

[palmerc2]

Remember when you’d slam a flip phone shut if you had a less than desirable phone conversation? Is angrily tapping a screen to end a call giving you melancholy of the good ol days?

Have I got news for you.....except now a flip phone is over $1,000