The luxurious Galaxy Z TriFold appears to be suffering from some first-generation hardware issues, with users complaining of a broken internal screen. We hope that Samsung will be able to resolve these issues in the new batches.
In early December last year, Samsung unveiled its first triple foldable phone, under the name Galaxy Z TriFold. It was launched in China first and then globally shortly after. Since January 30, it has been available for purchase in the United States as well. However, some buyers have already started experiencing display issues, specifically with the internal tri-fold screen.
Two days ago (February 16), Reddit user “Odd-Drawer6410” posted a video showing an unresponsive internal screen on his Galaxy Z TriFold. The user purchased the phone from China and pointed out some interesting observations. After about a month of normal use, the internal screen suddenly flashed green and then stopped displaying anything. After a reboot, the issue resolved itself but it kept coming back, and the reboot fix was working inconsistently.
The external screen seemed to be working fine but the internal screen was completely black and unresponsive. The user noticed that screenshots taken with the device in its unlocked state were showing a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 instead of the native resolution of 2,160 x 1,548.
Then yesterday (February 17), another user posted in the same subreddit about the open screen not responding and registering phantom touches. The next morning, the screen was completely white and the user heard a popping sound when the device was folded. They think there is an air bubble under the screen. Neither device sustained any damage.
The first user will take their device to Samsung for investigation and hopefully find a solution. As for the second user, it appears that Samsung has returned his money. Another commenter shared that he received a refund as well.
While there have only been a handful of such cases, perhaps less than five, this doesn’t bode well for a luxury device like the Galaxy Z TriFold. Since it is also produced in limited quantities, Samsung does not appear to be offering replacement devices. One of the comments on the “Odd-Drawer6410” post indicated that this problem was caused by a damaged Flex ribbon cable. Hopefully, Samsung can identify the root cause and address it for the upcoming batches.
