About

The Samsung Galaxy Fold is a smart cellular telephone made by the Samsung technology company. Unlike other smartphones available at the time, the device had a center hinge that allowed the phone to open and close like a book.

History

On February 20th, 2019, the Samsung technology company hosted a product announcement event called "Galaxy Unpacked." During the event, the company introduced a new line of smartphones that included a new device: the Samsung Galaxy Fold." The price for the device started at $1,980.^[1] Within two months, a video of the event received more than 4.3 million views (shown below, left).

On April 15th, the company released an advertisement for the device. Within one week, the video received more than 500,000 views (shown below, right).

Reception

Following the release of the phone to reviewers, many online began reporting that the phone had broken within hours of opening. On April 17th, 2019, CNBC reporter Steve Kovach tweeted a video of a broken Galaxy Fold with the caption After one day of use…" The post received more than 12,000 retweets and 32,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below).

After one day of use… pic.Samsung just announced the first foldable phone you can buy and it will cost $1,980
twitter.com/VjDlJI45C9

— Steve Kovach (@stevekovach) April 17, 2019

Bloomberg Reporter Mark Gurman tweeted,^[2] "The screen on my Galaxy Fold review unit is completely broken and unusable just two days in. Hard to know if this is widespread or not." Within 24 hours, the tweet received more than 3,900 retweets and 10,000 likes (shown below, left). He later tweeted about a plastic film that comes on the device. He wrote,^[3] "The phone comes with this protective layer/film. Samsung says you are not supposed to remove it. I removed it, not knowing you’re not supposed to (consumers won’t know either). It appeared removable in the left corner, so I took it off. I believe this contributed to the problem." The post received more than 725 retweets and 3,700 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Washington Post columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler tweeted, "Lots of reports emerging about problems with the Samsung Galaxy Fold screen. I tried folding and unfolding it 100 times in a single sprint, but did not spot any problems." The post received more than 230 retweets and 2,200 likes in 24 hours (shown below).

Lots of reports emerging about problems with the Samsung Galaxy Fold screen.I tried folding and unfolding it 100 times in a single sprint, but did not spot any problems. https://t.co/nasXGSob9k pic.twitter.com/vPGk6Xic3x

— Geoffrey A. Fowler (@geoffreyfowler) April 17, 2019

That day, Wall Street Journal columnist Joanna Stern tweeted^[4] a statement from Samsung, who said that the issuers were caused by "removing the protective layer" (shown below).

Twitter published a Moments page on the issue.^[5]

Search Interest

External References