Teardown Report Questions Why Galaxy Fold Fixes Weren’t Part of Original Design

The newly revamped Galaxy Fold touts obvious “fixes” of the problems that forced Samsung to scrap the foldable smartphone days before its April 26 debut (see 1904220028), said an updated iFixit teardown "Take Two" report Monday. The right-to-repair company’s original teardown analysis declared the Fold “fragile with a capital ‘F’” (see 1904240027). During the five months in which the Fold disappeared back into the lab, Samsung “closed some gaps, reinforced the folding display, and hid the edges of that screen protection layer that everyone found so catastrophically tempting to peel off,” said iFixit. The Fold “represents a new form factor for smartphones and is undeniably a cool piece of tech,” but questionable flaws remain, it said. “While Samsung added ingress protection in some areas, others -- like the spine -- seem sure to trap (and keep) debris.” Of the meaningful tweaks Samsung made, “we can’t help but wonder why these seemingly obvious durability safeguards weren’t part of the Fold’s design in the first place,” said iFixit. Samsung didn’t comment.