Latest Foldable Smartphones Experiencing Failures and Durability Issues

[ThisBougieLife]

When Apple comes out with a foldable, it will be way better than all of these.

 

[lJoSquaredl]

"If it ain't broke don't fix it...just break it"

 

[rp2011]

What’s next? Foldable laundry? Screw that!

 

[cmaier]

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

And it comes with a warning not to slam it shut

 

[macduke]

Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Especially when you barely can and then it breaks.

I don't see much value in a regular folding phone. Where I see value is in the phones that unfold into tablets. Apple is waiting to get it right, and once they do, other companies will copy them and then everyone will claim that Apple wasn't the first with a folding phone so Samsung and others aren't copying them. Same thing happened when they brought out the original iPhone in 2007. Apple isn't often first to market because they wait to be best to market.

 

[44267547]

Newer Technology Doesn’t come without its issues. This technology has a lot of interesting concepts about it, but I definitely don’t think it’s to the point where it’s ‘matured‘ enough where you’re it’s earned the notorietycurrent smart phones do have.

 

[Jim Lahey]

And it comes with a warning not to slam it shut

Or touch the touchscreen

 

[Puppuccino]

Foldable phones are such a gimmick.

No one who had a Galaxy or iPhone in the past couple of years looked at their phone and thought, this is big, I wish I could fold it.

Such pointless tech. As others have said, it’s searching for a problem that doesn’t exist. I’m not surprised at the problems that have been cropping up. The technology is still in its infancy.

 

[jeyf]

wow, all the apple fan boys are out on this one

 

[Gasu E.]

wow, all the apple fan boys are out on this one

Just as you are.
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The fact is, a small subset of people (Tech reviewers) had issues with the fold, many others didn’t. It’s just that tech reviewers made a huge deal out of it on some of the largest social platforms ever.

So, you think maybe Samsung shipped their few defective units specifically to tech reviewers? How very silly of them.

 

[Bobby Smallwood]

Most likely partly due to this being a first-gen product and partly due to trying to rush the device to market to beat the competition. Hopefully there are some rock solid warranties available for these phones

This has nothing to do with being a first Gen product, it was destined to fail just like sapphire displays.

 

[CarlJ]

This is the kind of thing that happens when marketing decides on technical features (either out of thin air or because they saw an unworkable prototype and liked the concept), and then marketing and finance get together and decide on a good release date and start printing up brochures, and then they tell engineering to make it work. There is no possible way that this can work in its current form (with the materials they have at hand), but they'd already decided to ship it. And people wonder why Apple never (okay almost never) announces something before they have it ready to ship.

 

[LV426]

It’s been a few years since I saw it, but Joaquin Phoenix’s folding phone in the movie Her was pretty neat. It’s a bit like an old fashioned cigarette case.

 

[mazz0]

who's surprised by this?

I’m actually surprised how well it fared when he tried to bend it backwards.

 

[Jim Lahey]

wow, all the apple fan boys are out on this one

Yes, because anyone discussing potential issues with a product not made by Apple must automatically be an Apple fanboy. Classic ad hominem deflection. I would explain the meaning of irony, but I fear I'd be wasting both our time

 

[jonblatho]

The fact is, a small subset of people (Tech reviewers) had issues with the fold, many others didn’t.

Many others indeed didn’t have issues because that design never shipped.

 

[Xade]

This line is absurd; a company can innovate without releasing faulty product into the world, knowingly or otherwise. That’s what R&D and testing are for. Can you catch everything? No; that’s fine, and you have to roll with those punches.

But the Galaxy Fold situation proved that Samsung was in such a hurry to show off their shiny new thing that they either skipped a lot of QA or failed to fully consider how people who didn’t understand the limitations of the technology. That’s why the Galaxy Fold and Galaxy Z Flip now come with warning labels telling you not to, for example, push the screen too hard.

That’s not innovation, that’s cheaping out on testing expenses and expecting people to pay sizable sums so that they can be the guinea pigs instead.

Here's a thought. Don't buy one.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

we aren’t there yet. Still to early for this tech.

 

[Shanghaichica]

The phone has sold out in most of the launch countries. The galaxy fold sold 500k units with a limited launch. However nobody wants a folding phone. I guess Samsung bought every single unit.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

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

Ya but according to Steve Jobs, “people don’t know what they want until you show them them what they want”. Doesn’t have to be in search of a solution. Same could have been said about the Original iPhone.

 

[Shanghaichica]

Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Especially when you barely can and then it breaks.

I don't see much value in a regular folding phone. Where I see value is in the phones that unfold into tablets. Apple is waiting to get it right, and once they do, other companies will copy them and then everyone will claim that Apple wasn't the first with a folding phone so Samsung and others aren't copying them. Same thing happened when they brought out the original iPhone in 2007. Apple isn't often first to market because they wait to be best to market.

Samsung already have a phone that folds into a tablet. Any foldable phone that Apple brings out will have screens that have been developed and perfected by Samsung or another company.

 

[pearvsapple]

Foldable phones are the future but not the present. The technology is still too early... just wait.

 

[Xade]

The screen is garbage and normal use ruins it. The mechanism is flawed as well and it’s an overall terrible design with zero chance of success.

Wow! How long have you had yours?

 

[FlyingDutch]

This is getting ridiculous. Foldable displays are a solution to a made up problem.
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Most likely partly due to this being a first-gen product and partly due to trying to rush the device to market to beat the competition. Hopefully there are some rock solid warranties available for these phones

For Samsung it is a second-gen product...

 

[Krizoitz]

I respect these companies more for assuming this risk and trying out new things that can fail, for the sake of moving technology forward. As long as they honor any warranties, support, etc.

That’s despite me thinking that foldable phones in this form factor might not be “forward.”

You respect them for selling garbage products that break ridiculously easily to customers? Thats pretty wild.

You know its entirely possible to research and develop new technologies without actually selling them to customers until they are ready right? Releasing products that fall apart at the drop of a hat doesn't move technology forward, it just inconveniences the customer (at best) or completely rips them off (at worst).