By Alan Ai ‘21
With the impending rollout date of April 26, all eyes have been on the new Galaxy Fold in recent days, Samsung’s ambitious attempt at a crossover between tablet and smartphone. Ideally, this product aimed to provide an experience that would double as both a small, accessible device to use on the go, and a larger screen to utilize during standard usage. As such, the product was given an extremely high price tag of nearly $2,000, which, in the world of technology, affords a customer with not just a product but also a status symbol. In an attempt to generate excitement for the product, a prototype of the Fold was released to a number of major gadget reviewers, which has resulted in a slew of issues even before the product’s release. Within a single day, reports of trouble began to flow, with many marking down the Fold as a failure well before its launch. One reviewer claimed that the Fold’s screen died after a single day, with others reporting that the device was rendered unusable after peeling off the provided screen protector. Although Samsung later claimed that this screen protector was a layer of the screen not meant for removal, other reports of complete screen failure had also been reported after “standard usage”, including merely opening and closing the screen, and carrying the device in the user’s pocket. Dieter Bohn, executive editor of The Verge, a popular technology website, reported that a bulge had already formed in the hinge of the screen after a single day of usage. Unfortunately, this situation is nothing new to Samsung, which had experienced a similar disastrous launch during the rollout of the Galaxy Note 7, which was eventually recalled after some of the devices exploded as a result of overheating. Although the issues with the Fold are purely technical (so far), the rollout and subsequent recall of the Note 7 indicates potential institutional negligence on Samsung’s behalf, given the pattern of faulty and/or dangerous rollouts of Samsung products within the past few years. Additionally, given how expensive the device is, a rollout in its current form would result in a large-scale disaster, with a massive rush of Folds becoming essentially unusable after a single day. While a product so fragile is undoubtedly frustrating to use, the effect will be massively compounded by the amount of money it takes to purchase, setting up for a massive disaster in the hands of Samsung. As Apple continues to release expensive yet durable versions of the iPhone, Samsung’s expensive should consider itself lucky if it’s only regarded as an inferior product, as the Fold seems to remain a complete failure with only 7 days (as of today’s date) until its launch, leaving little room for major modification. Sources:https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/technology/samsung-galaxy-screen.htmlhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/samsung-to-investigate-malfunctioning-screens-on-new-galaxy-fold-phones-11555557549https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/17/18411510/samsung-galaxy-fold-broken-screen-debris-dust-hinge-flexible-bulgeImage:https://i2.wp.com/9to5google.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2019/04/samsung-galaxy-fold-broken.jpg?resize=2000%2C0&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1