Samsung Electronics Co
Ltd said it has received "a few" reports of damage
to the displays of samples of its upcoming foldable smartphone,
raising the prospect of a less-then-smooth entry for the splashy
$1,980 handset.
The Galaxy Fold, on sale from April 26 in the United States,
resembles a conventional smartphone but opens like a book to
reveal a second display the size of a small tablet at 18.5 cm.
The design, matched by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd's
Mate X, was hailed as the future in a field that has
seen few surprises since Apple Inc's iPhone in 2007.
Yet ahead of the launch, journalists supplied with review
samples reported malfunctions after only a day or two of use.
"We will thoroughly inspect these units... to determine the
cause of the matter," Samsung said in a statement.
The malfunctions raised the specter of Samsung's doomed
Galaxy Note 7 phone three years ago. Battery and design flaws in
the Note 7 resulted in some units catching fire or exploding,
forcing Samsung to recall and cancel sales of the model.
The recall wiped out nearly all profit of Samsung's mobile
division in the third quarter of 2016.
With the Fold, analysts said malfunctions from the first
batch of a test model were of little surprise. Moreover, the
handset's in-folding design is likely to be less durable than
Huawei's out-folding approach, they said.
"In-folding is more difficult to make than out-folding, as
it adds higher pressure to screens, which people have worried
about," said analyst Park Sung-soon at BNK Securities.
A model holds a Samsung Galaxy Fold smartphone to her face. Photo: Kelvin Chan/AP
Technology journalists took to Twitter on Wednesday to
report instances of the screen either cracking or flickering.
Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman tweeted: "The screen on my
Galaxy Fold review unit is completely broken and unusable just
two days in. Hard to know if this is widespread or not."
Gurman removed a plastic layer on the screen that was not
meant to be removed and the phone malfunctioned afterwards,
according to his tweets.
A wrapper around the device featured "ATTENTION" in
uppercase and warned not remove the layer, showed a tweet from
another sample recipient.
Samsung on Thursday said removing the protective layer might
result in damage, and that it would clearly inform customers of
the issue.
Dieter Bohn, executive editor of The Verge, said a "small
bulge" appeared on the crease of the phone screen, which
appeared to be something pressing from underneath the screen.
Bohn said Samsung replaced his test phone but did not offer an
explanation for the problem.
Justin Denison, SVP of Mobile Product Development, talks about the new Samsung Galaxy Fold smartphone. Photo: Eric Risberg/AP
"It is very troubling," Bohn told Reuters, adding that he
did not remove the protective layer.
CNBC.com tech editor Steve Kovach tweeted a video of half of
his phone's screen flickering after using it for just a day.
Samsung has said it plans to make at least 1 million Fold
handsets, versus the total 300 million phones it produces
annually. It has closed Fold pre-orders due to "high demand".
On Thursday, the firm told Reuters there was no change to
its release schedule following the malfunction reports.
"I think as time goes on its yield rate will improve, and
foldables that customers have in hand will be much better," said
analyst Lee Kyu-ha at NH Investment & Securities. "But I don't
know if Samsung can completely fix the problem about screens."
Reuters