Samsung's folding phone is breaking for tech reviewers

Samsung sent out its new folding phone this week to tech reviewers around the world, and several are reporting that the device is breaking within days.

Every smartphone company is trying to do something new and surprising with its next-generation phones, and for several manufacturers that means folding phones. Huawei's Mate X and Samsung's Galaxy Fold both feature flexible screens that bend in the middle, opening to transform the devices from a smartphone-like form-factor to almost tablet-sized devices.

Both companies have demonstrated their folding phones at tech events and allowed journalists to get hands-on with them, and this week Samsung sent out Galaxy Fold review devices ahead of the phone's release this month on April 26th. If the experiences of those journalists are anything to go by, however, this launch may not play out well for Samsung.

Several journalists have reported over Twitter that their device has broken after just one or two days of use. Some reported that a plastic film on the screen was beginning to peel off, so they removed it believing it to be a standard screen protector added to new phones. Samsung issued a warning that this is not a screen protector but a protective anti-scratch layer and shouldn't be removed.

That's not the whole story, however, as even journalists who didn't remove the film have been experiencing completely broken screens. Some have also noted that their screen has picked up damage somehow, or is bulging in places. If this turns out to be any indication of the release quality of the £1,800 phone, the return rate could be extraordinarily high.

Source: BBC News, The Verge, Belfast Telegraph