IFixit vs. Samsung (Topic)

The upcoming Galaxy Fold product from Samsung was scheduled to be unveiled on April 26th. However, shortly before the event, data came in indicating that the announcement of an expensive foldable smartphone would not take place. This was preceded by several reports from various sources about numerous malfunctions of its displays.

Therefore, the manufacturing company decided to postpone the release of new items. However, this gadget was not left alone. The specialists at iFixit somehow got one of the Galaxy Folds and took it apart to pieces in order to study the contents. They claim that in the course of their research into the gadget's internals, they found two ways to break it.

What actually lies behind this process is not yet known for sure, but it almost led to a conflict between iFixit and Samsung.

The film does not protect

It is known that this gadget is equipped with a plastic shell that covers its display. It somehow resembles an analogue, similar to that installed on the Samsung Galaxy S10. It was immediately removed from some samples. It turned out that this protective layer is not at all such. Film is a very important part of the display. Koreans dubbed it "polymer layer".

The thing is, a flexible OLED display is fragile enough. If you remove this cover, it can be easily broken. This can happen as soon as the polymer is removed from the screen. He is so fragile.

The iFixit experts came to the conclusion that if the developer does not increase the area of the polymer coating so that its edges are covered by the smartphone's frames, then, after the start of sales, more than one phone will be broken.

The gadget is poorly protected from dust

This problem is more serious. One of the reviewers who received the flexible smartphone stated that his device had some kind of bulge on the display as a result of a foreign object getting inside. Soon there were a few more complaints about this.

After the analysis carried out by iFixit specialists, it became clear that the Korean company paid a lot of attention and resources to the development of the hinge mechanism, which guarantees its trouble-free operation. Allegedly guaranteed up to 200,000 of its unfolding and folding.

However, it turned out that Samsung did nothing to prevent dust from entering through the 7mm wide slots that form at the junction of the hinge with the display. This leads to the fact that dirt and dust constantly gets there.

However, iFixit employees have determined that this is not the only place where foreign objects and dust can get. The outer part of the case has gaps that are large enough to even insert some plastic tools.

The conclusion was sad: the well-known tech giant Samsung has developed a gadget worth 2,000 US dollars, which does not meet basic standards of protection against dust and dirt.

Next Steps

Nobody knows how simple or difficult it is to provide dust and moisture protection for a folding device. Nobody has dealt with this task before.

However, this does not relieve the responsibility of the Korean developer who missed this important nuance. Most likely, they were so puzzled by the quality of the developed hinge that they did not take into account the need to install seals. Therefore, the release of the Galaxy Fold was postponed until June 13.

Conflict situation

Another miscalculation of Samsung's policy is its confrontation with the media, which published the reports of iFixit experts.

It was revealed that the firm recently pressured iFixit to remove the article with the identified flaws during the Galaxy Fold parsing.

It is not at all clear where the iFixit engineers got a copy of the flexible device, which was subsequently evaluated and disassembled.

Its representatives reported that the product was provided to them by one of the partners, and after the release of the devastating article, the Koreans demanded through the same partner to delete the data on its results. However, initially no one was going to do this. Neither Samsung nor anyone else has any legal or other grounds to enforce this.

Subsequently, iFixit deleted the article, referring to the requests of its partner and respect for him.

This is not the first time this has happened. Earlier, Samsung put pressure on the media because of publications about the explosiveness of the Galaxy Note 7 batteries. Apparently, this company has forgotten about the opposite effect. The more they censor information about their developments, the higher the public attention to them.

The Topic of Article: IFixit vs. Samsung.
Author: Jake Pinkman