Galaxy Fold - A Mistake Only Samsung Could Make

**The Samsung Galaxy Fold Recall: A Comprehensive Look at How It Happened and What It Means for the Future of Folding Phones**

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### Introduction: The Recall of the Samsung Galaxy Fold

In a significant move, Samsung has recalled the Galaxy Fold following widespread issues reported by users. This decision marks a pivotal moment as Samsung aims to rectify the problems and relaunch their innovative product. The recall highlights the challenges faced by the tech giant in delivering a cutting-edge device that met with unexpected hurdles.

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### How Samsung Arrived at This Point: The 2018 Rumors and Competition

The journey of the Galaxy Fold began in 2018, amidst numerous rumors about Samsung's plans to release the first folding phone. Excitement was high as this represented a new frontier in smartphone technology. However, competition was fierce, with companies like Huawei and BOE also rumored to be working on similar projects.

A critical turning point occurred when South Korean prosecutors accused Samsung executives of selling bendable OLED screen technology to Chinese competitors, including BOE, which supplied华为's Mate X. This incident cast a shadow over Samsung's efforts to maintain its lead in innovative tech.

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### The 2019 Launch: A Secretive but Risky Move

The Galaxy Fold was officially launched in February 2019 at the Samsung event, marking a secretive and unprecedented approach by Samsung. The company managed to keep the phone under wraps until its unveiling, a strategy that generated buzz but also introduced risks.

Leakers had anticipated the device's release for months, raising questions about how Samsung maintained secrecy. This secrecy came at a cost, as limited pre-launch testing left the device vulnerable to real-world issues once it reached consumers.

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### Manufacturing and Design Flaws Exposed

Upon analysis, the Galaxy Fold revealed several design weaknesses. The hinge mechanism, while robust on its own, lacked proper protection against external elements. Gaps in both the display and the hinge allowed dust and debris to enter, leading to internal damage such as screen peeling and malfunction.

The issue was not isolated to a few users but became widespread, indicating a fundamental flaw in the device's design. Despite individual components being top-notch, the combination of moving parts created points of weakness that Samsung had overlooked.

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### The Role of Dust: A Real-World Problem

Dust, an omnipresent element, played a crucial role in exposing the Galaxy Fold's vulnerabilities. Reviewers and users alike reported issues stemming from particulate matter entering the device, highlighting the need for better ingress protection.

Had Samsung conducted thorough real-world testing, these problems might have been identified earlier. The rush to market left little time for such rigorous evaluation, underscoring the pressure Samsung faced to be first in this new market segment.

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### A Comparison with Apple's Approach

In contrast to Samsung's hurried release, Apple's approach to product development is characterized by meticulous testing and a willingness to delay releases if perfection isn't achieved. The decision to axe their Air Power project exemplifies this strategy, prioritizing quality over speed.

Samsung, driven by the desire to be first, took shortcuts that compromised the device's reliability. This contrast in approaches raises questions about the balance between innovation speed and product quality.

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### Samsung's Position in the Market

Samsung, a pioneer in OLED technology, deserved to lead in foldable phones. The recall reflects not just a misstep but also the high stakes of innovation. The pressure to outpace competitors led to a rushed release that ultimately affected user trust.

While Samsung is taking the right steps by recalling the devices and addressing issues, the incident will impact public perception of folding technology. Potential buyers may now question the durability and reliability of future foldable phones.

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### Looking Ahead: The Future of Foldable Technology

Despite the setbacks, the potential of foldable devices remains unimpressive. Samsung's Galaxy Fold offered a glimpse into this exciting new category, making it crucial for them to resolve current issues and regain consumer trust.

The recall serves as a cautionary tale, emphasizing the importance of thorough testing and user feedback in product development. As other companies like Huawei and Motorola enter this space, they must learn from Samsung's experience to avoid similar pitfalls.

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### Conclusion: Hope for a Revived Innovation

While the Galaxy Fold recall presents challenges, it also offers an opportunity for Samsung to innovate further. The potential of foldable technology is immense, and with careful attention to detail, Samsung could emerge stronger in this new market.

For now, we wait to see how Samsung addresses these issues and whether folding phones can live up to their promise. One thing is certain: the future of smartphones is flexible, and companies will need to adapt to meet evolving consumer expectations.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enOkay, so the galaxy fold we're at the point now where Samsung has recalled all the review nuts out there and they're gonna try toFix it and just relaunch this whole product and a little bit clearlyThere was something wrong with the fold at least the original devices and they're gonna do what they can to resolve this whole thingBut as I sat here thinking about the situation I thought how did we get here?like how do we get to the point where Samsung was putting out a device like this that felt sounrefined and so rushed out into the market andI just thought about the sequence of events that basically put Samsung in this position where they were almostForced to do this, so in 2018They were rumors like a lot of rumors that Samsung was gonna put out the first folding phoneIt was like hey, you know, that's coolThat's the first new type of phone technology that a lot of people were interested inBut at the same time there were rumors that a competitor kwame was trying to do the exact same thingBut they were trying to beat Samsung to that title that title of the world's first foldable phoneBut then in late 2018 there was an accusation of theftthere were some South Korean prosecutors that were charging some executives for selling the technology of bendable OLED screens to aChinese competitor and one of those competitors that were purchasing this stolen technology was a company called BOEThey're one of the suppliers for Huawei phonesin factThey're making the bendable OLED screen for the upcoming foldable huawei phone the mate X so fast forward this whole thing - I guess 2019February where the galaxy folds is launched at theSamsung event and no one had seen this phone prior to the event is pretty cool that they'd kept it secret but it's 2019Leaks are everywhere. We see phones like six even eight months before they get announcedHow did Samsung keep this phone under wraps this entire time?And it makes me think of one or maybe two possible scenariosOne possibility is that maybe very few people had access to this phonelike maybe their test group was really small and they just wanted to keep it veryContained very secretive so that it wouldn't get leakedThe other possibility is that maybe this device just got off the manufacturing line like it's not fully testedBut they just want to show it out to the public so that they could be first and then they would take that time afterthe event to sort things out and then kind of deal with the aftermath but in either of those casesThere's not a lot of testing involved and we've seen the results. We've seen these devices nowI fix it did a teardown of it. This is a very fragile deviceIt's kind of weirdest at how easy it is for crap to get into the phone like up front under the displayThere's a little bit of a gap stuff can get in there and then on the backThere's a gap that runs along the whole length of the hinge that stuff can get in and once it's in thereIt's very likely that it's gonna stay in thereAnd that's what the cause of a lot of these problems are I'm not talking about like the peeling of the protectorIt's that when stuff gets into the phone, it busts the screen from the back the hinge mechanism looks robustAnd the panels themselves are supposedly rated for like two hundred thousand folds. It's not the hardware like individually all the parts are greatIt's just that when you have moving parts like this and they're all combined when there's one point of weaknessThe thing will fail and in this particular case, it's the fact that there's no ingress protectionThere's just so many places that dirt and other particulate matter can get into the phone and break thingsso this is where things get a little bit weird when you look at the problem that this phone hasIt's not like some obscure problem dust is a very real thingit's everywhere and if they had done some proper testing and I'm not talking like super extensive testing likeActual testing of this device in real-world scenarios not just like folding the screen with machinesBut actual testing in people's hands, they would have picked up on thisI mean look at the number of review nuts out there that have had issues from stuff getting into the phoneIt's clearly a pretty common occurrence. But the reason why this happened is because Samsung is SamsungThey're a company that feels pressure from the market from the consumers to do things quicklyAnd sometimes they take shortcuts and sometimes those shortcuts don't pan out but other companies like Apple for examplethey don't feel that same kind of pressure at least not to the same degree, like like air power for example, theyWanted to launch something and they tried for a while to make it work and when it didn't workAnd it couldn't make it happen the way they wanted it toThey just axed the product that obviously that's just a charger but Samsung really wanted to be first this time around and honestlyI feel like they should have been first. They're one of the pioneers in OLED bendable technology and they deserved itthey deserve to be first and when you have pressure like qua way that was going to release a bendable phone of their own likeThink about how they feel do we really want that company qua way to come out first means like heyWe have the world first bendable phone. They wanted to be first. They took a couple shortcuts to get there andThat's where we are right now. We have a recall on a product nowThere's a part of me that feels like you know SamsungThey should have done this but there's a bigger part of me that just feels bad for them. They got backed into this cornerthey got pushed into the situation where they had to rush it and try to be first andNow we're in a situationwhere it might look bad for the company, I meanI think Samsung is doing the right thing to recall it and try to do what they can to fix itBut it also affects the public kind ofPerception of what folding technology is like for any folding phone that comes out in the future people will question its durability and reliabilityJust because Samsung a huge company messed up on their launchbut that's what we have and I genuinely hope that Samsung is able to resolve whatever issues they had with that phone becausePlaying with that phone is one of the coolest things I've been able to experience in quite a while in tech. OkayHope you guys enjoyed this video thumbs. We liked it subs if you loved it. See you guys next timeYou\n"