While some Canadians lament that Google’s Pixel Fold isn’t available here, others might breathe sighs of relief as reports about the foldable’s durability come out. Over the last day, a Fold reviewer and several users have detailed problems with the Pixel Fold display.
The issues so far harken back to the early Galaxy Z Fold days when tons of people reported issues after debris got under the display and caused damage. The Pixel Fold so far seems susceptible to a similar issue.
Ars Technica’s Ron Amadeo kicked things off with an obituary for his Pixel Fold, detailing how, after just four days of “the lightest possible usage,” the OLED screen died. Amadeo suspects a tiny bit of debris got into the small gutter between where the plastic protective layer ends and where the bezel begins. That gutter is a small bit of exposed OLED panel, and according to Amadeo, closing the phone put pressure on whatever grit got into that gutter, enough pressure to puncture the OLED panel and eventually kill the panel entirely. If you’re curious to learn more about it, it’s worth reading Amadeo’s full investigation here.
Amadeo, unfortunately, wasn’t the last to report problems. The Verge rounded up a bunch of Reddit posts from Fold users experiencing their own problems. One Fold owner says their display hasn’t died yet, but it has several small dents in the same gutter area where Amadeo’s Fold was punctured. Another Fold owner posted pictures showing the plastic protective layer peeling along the crease, as well as some gnarly scratches on the display. A third Fold user shared a picture of a neon pink line cutting across the display, which appeared after just two hours of use.
The Verge’s Allison Johnson also noted she can see a faint scratch on her Pixel Fold review unit following about a week of use.
A Google spokesperson told The Verge that anyone experiencing the issues should reach out to Google support so they can investigate. And while so far, most of the issues reported seem like they should at least be covered under warranty, as Amadeo points out, Google’s support team has a reputation for being not great.
So far, there only seems to be a handful of reports about the Fold. It’s not clear how widespread these problems are, but given how foldable usually aren’t very durable, these reports definitely raise some concern about the Pixel Fold.
Source: Ars Technica, Reddit, (2), (3) Via: The Verge
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