The Galaxy Fold will be available in the US starting Friday, which will give you a fantastic opportunity to save $1,980, and do something else with that money. We get it, someone had to be first to launch foldable smartphones, and Samsung always wanted to be the one to do it. But if there’s anything the Galaxy Fold has proven so far it’s that technology isn’t ready for smartphone makers to create foldable handsets that are as durable as regular ones. Just a few days ago, Samsung reminded buyers the phone is an accident waiting to happen, in spite of all the changes it made to the phone’s construction. If you still want to go forward and part ways with $2,000, then you should know the chances of ruining your phone are very high, certainly higher than with any other device.
Zack Nelson, the man behind YouTube channel JerryRig Everything, put the Galaxy Fold through the same durability test that we’ve seen before with other handsets, and it’s a must-see video if you want to buy Samsung’s first foldable handset. Even though Samsung fixed the phone, there still are a few massive issues with the handset the company didn’t address.
The most notable problems concern the screen, which you can destroy with ease. The display is protected by a thin film that sits atop a polymer, and neither one of them is durable enough. Anything that can get stuck between the two screen layers might leave an indentation on either side when the phone is folded, and it’s too easy pierce the display by mistake, killing pixels in the process. Even fingernails can damage the screen.
If dirt gets between the screen layers, it’ll likely end up inside the hinge and you’ll never get rid of it. Moreover, there’s an unwanted side-effect: the extra noise you get from that hinge when its gears keep grinding down and dust or dirt that gets in.
The video proves the phone’s metal and glass parts are as durable as expected, and the hinge itself is quite resistant to accidental bending. But that’s not enough. The screen is this phone’s most precious part and its biggest draw, and it might be ruined by common issues that wouldn’t impact regular handsets at all. Check out the full clip below.
