Early reviews of Samsung’s new Galaxy Fold have been critical of the new folding screen, but I think the most hilarious came from iFixit as part of the website’s product tear-down: “Like a beautiful butterfly, our Fold's life was tragically short … Also like a butterfly, this thing is alarmingly fragile.”
iFixit is a website that provides information to give people more access to repairs. Since some companies don't make parts or manuals readily available, the website is designed to work like one big (and free) repair manual, mostly to encourage people to fix things themselves.
According to iFixit, the phone is easy to get into, but had “overwhelming fragility,” which isn’t a good sign if it’s going to demand a $2,000 price point. The tear-down also noted that the Fold’s design had “a ton of entry points for dust and other foreign matter to make their way inside” as well as “many different ways for the screen to break.”
Overall, the tear-down reinforced concerns from other design reviews — namely, the mechanics of the fold wearing out and the high likelihood that the screen will need to be replaced, which is expensive.
Last week, Samsung put the Galaxy Fold on hold to make “further improvements.” The company didn’t give an updated launch date, which was originally set for April 26.
The company also got iFixit to remove its tear-down, which has caused quite a stir. That comment section is an entertaining read.
In the tear-down, the authors said, “Hopefully, it can metamorphose into something a bit more robust to avoid the windshield of fate … Maybe with their extra time, Samsung can add a bit more reinforcement and some ingress protection, so these glorious wings may flap another day!”
