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Starting at the end of last month, Samsung finally started selling its first trifolding phone in the U.S. Customers who were willing to spend an eye-watering $2,900 were able to snag a 10-inch display that folds up to fit in a pocket, but as with many first-gen devices, it turns out there have been a few growing pains. Two users who took the plunge on the Samsung Galaxy Z Trifold have shared on Reddit that their screens are already unresponsive—but to Samsung’s credit, the company isn’t leaving them hanging.
The first user, who had their phone for about a month and a half (they bought their unit while overseas) before issues appeared, posted three days ago that their inner screen had started periodically flashing green before cutting to black, after which it would be unresponsive. Sometimes, restarts appeared to fix the issue immediately, while in other cases, the phone would need to stay on for a few hours first before a restart would fix the problem.
The other report is a bit more concerning, and claims the user’s inner screen completely died within just five days of purchase. According to this user, the issue first started showing up as ghost touching, or the device recognizing touches when there weren’t any. The following day, the screen was pure white, and has remained unresponsive since. Alongside the white screen, the user also reported hearing a “strange popping sound” while closing the device and seeing what appeared to be an air bubble underneath the screen.
Both reports follow a less severe one from a Korean user, who said in mid-January that their phone had a line of dead pixels down the lefthand side of the device. All three users have posted photographic evidence alongside their complaints.
For the American users, neither said they put their device through any stress, with the first saying their issues popped up “during normal usage” and the second saying they “have done nothing but baby” their phone. While we can’t know for sure what happened with these phones without seeing them ourselves, some users do have speculation. For the device that flashed green, one Redditor suggested that’s indicative of a bad ribbon cable, something I can confirm I’ve seen on other devices. As for the device with the unresponsive white screen, one user pointed to defects in other first-gen foldables, something that has been seen on both the Galaxy Z Fold 1 and the original Pixel Fold.
As for the dead pixels on the Korean phone, the users’ post did not mention how the issue first appeared, at least going by a machine translation.
It’s disappointing to see such big investments immediately disappoint these users, but all have had luck in contacting Samsung support. The first user with a dead screen posted an update today that said Samsung is repairing their phone for free, although it’ll take 1-3 weeks for them to get the device back. The second said they opted for a return instead, and will return to the cheaper Galaxy Z Fold 7 rather than use the new device. “5 days is a little silly for hardware failure,” they said of their decision. Finally, the Korean user with dead pixels said that Samsung replaced their device for free, while taking their old one “for research.”
While these are only a few users’ experiences, it’s not a great look for Samsung, and it’s a good reminder to be careful if you choose to early adopt. If you do choose to go in on a Trifold, it might be worth buying a Samsung Care+ plan alongside it, to help protect your $2,900 investment from accidental damage or keep it eligible for repairs after the warranty expires.
Granted, you’ll have at least one day before you need to make that decision. The Galaxy Z Trifold is once again out of stock in the U.S., but a new batch is set to drop tomorrow. Hopefully, this batch will be a bit more durable than the last.