I felt this way at one point and vocally proclaimed as such on here. My Fold 5 developed a bubble under the screen protector after about 18 months. I sent it into Samsung through the website to get it repaired. Whoever "repaired" it, just seemed to slice the screen protector down the middle with an knife so it had a big ugly line down the center. Predictably, it was full of bubbles again within a week. I'm not even bothering opening it anymore for fear that it will break the inner screen. Between this and the fact that I had another two Samsung phones that developed hardware faults making them unusable after 2 years of use, I'm absolutely done with Samsung. Before that, I had an iPhone that was still going strong after 7 years. I'm preordering an iPhone tomorrow and selling the Samsung. Doubt I will be venturing into the Android ecosystem again. Might get an Apple foldable depending on what the initial reports are like on durability after it's been around for a couple of years. The time sink of having to transfer a phone across is high and I really cba with doing it because of avoidable screen repair.

▲ treecrypto 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

>I had another two Samsung phones that developed hardware faults making them unusable after 2 years of use, I'm absolutely done with Samsung

I haven't tried any foldable phones and I have no intention to anytime soon, but with other samsung phones my experience has been completely different. I've only ever used Samsung smartphones, and the only times they broke was when I dropped them or mishandled them myself somehow. My current one is past the 6 year mark, and I have no issues with it. It still keeps 48 hours of battery with my normal use (though that might not be saying much considering my normal use is different from most people's normal use of watching videos for hours)

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Lord-Jobo 3 days ago | parent [-]

My experience with 5 Samsung phones over 10ish years, last one being 2019:

Great hardware that nearly always impresses. Very infrequent hardware issues compared to its main competitors (in the android space).

Extremely annoying software experience. Locked bootloader aside, as I recognize that's only an issue for a very small group. But the software goes through these intense hills and valleys where you can go a long time without updates, with bugs, with bloat, with problems. Then a burst of updates that seem to address many of those issues, then it just slides back into the shit. And the amazing hardware is dragged down in this cycling, to the point where the phone will feel old at an accelerated rate. I've hard that exact complaint about apple and a few other android manufacturers many times but only Samsung has genuinely given me that experience.

It's very unfortunate. If they unlocked the bootloader I could bypass the software issues myself and have damn near the perfect phone.

	▲	a456463 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Oh how I wish I could root Samsung phones. The best hardware all around. Cramped down by the dumb bootloader lock and Knox tripping!

▲ lallysingh 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I had a fold 3, and now a fold 6. The screen protectors are easily replaceable yourself. It's the only weakness on the phone I've found, and a cheap ($17ish) wear item. The replacement ones I get feel much nicer and thicker than the original.

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AshamedCaptain 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Samsung literally tells you not to replace the inner screen protector yourself.

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zvitiate 4 days ago | parent [-]

And the FDA tells you not to cook your steak rare.

	▲	bsder 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		That's not completely true. The FDA rules are an oversimplification because the actual rules are complicated. Chris Young has a video about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbaZpJ1AhFU
	▲	dlcarrier 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Rare stake is fine; it's rare burgers that are a risk, because bacteria can get ground into them.

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leptons 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I love the replacement matte inner screen protector on my fold 4. It's so much better than the glossy screen protector and it was cheap, and easy to install.

▲ fakedang 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There's a video out there of a bunch of guys flipping Samsung phones all day long. It starts failing after about 6k flips.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MPPLhYDnkFA&t=1s&pp=2AEBkAIB

▲ canucker2016 4 days ago | parent [-]

FTV, main issues from the fold test:

  A forced reboot error first occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 folds, and the same error repeatedly appeared at roughly every 10,000 folds afterward (e.g., around 16,000, 26,000, etc.).

  Around 46,000 folds, creaking noises started coming from the hinge.

  At 75,000 folds, an unknown black liquid came out of the hinge, but it has not appeared again.

  At 175,000 folds, all speakers (earpiece, top, and bottom) stopped working.

  The hinge has become smoother. Free-stop still works, but elasticity seems to be lost.

The reboots at 10K intervals seems like a software problem fixable by an update.

The speakers failing at 175K folds seems like the major failing point. I suppose bluetooth would probably still be working so you could still limp through day-to-day activities.

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OkayPhysicist 4 days ago | parent [-]

To be fair, 175K folds is like folding it once every 5 minutes for every waking hour of the day for two and a half years.

	▲	Workaccount2 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		They also did it constantly, which would build up heat. Doing it like a normal person would probably give you a few multiples more folds.

▲ Agentus 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

yeah I had my samsung phone brick after three years. Not sure I trust samsung hardware either.