Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Has a Fragile Glass Display Covered by Plastic, Teardown Shows; Replacement Cost Revealed

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip is the company's second foldable smartphone, which was launched at the Samsung Unpacked event last week. This new smartphone sports an Ultra-Thin Glass which the company refers to as Infinity Flex Display. While this new folding display is the highlight of the smartphone, it appears the display is not as durable as the panels on our existing smartphones. That's not all - the display, once broken, won't be easy or cheap to fix.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip has undergone a teardown by PBKreviews on YouTube. This teardown shows that display is a sheet of flexible glass on the Galaxy Z Flip and is not very durable. In the video PBKreviews takes the phone apart and peels the plastic coating on top of it. With the plastic coating out, what is left is glass but it isn't as flexible without the plastic coating. The layer shatters easily leading to deal pixels on the device.

Separately, Samsung-focused tipster Ice Universe tweeted that Samsung's UTG (Ultra-thin glass) has a thickness of just 30 microns.

Next, an early Galaxy Z Flip buyer named Amir tweeted that the display on a brand new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip shattered along the centre fold line when it was flipped, raising questions about its durability. He says, "Received my Samsung Galaxy Z Flip just now. Opened the box. Removed the protective/instruction film. Flipped the phone as you would do since it's a flip phone and this happened. I heard the crack as well." We have reached out to Samsung to comment on the early adopter's post, and will update this space when we hear back.

The user in a follow-up tweet said that a replacement Galaxy Z Flip unit was given by Samsung quickly after. In the meanwhile, SamMobile has reported the cost of the folding screen to be KRW 753,000 (roughly Rs. 45,400). In the US, the cost of a display replacement would be $499 (roughly Rs. 35,600) and $149 (Rs. 10,600) for the external 1.1-inch display. Samsung will be offering a one-time screen replacement at a discounted price of KRW 225,900 (roughly Rs. 13,600) in South Korea and $119 (roughly Rs. 8,500) in the US.

To recall, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip put through the torture test by JerryRigEverything's Zack Nelson. In the test, the Galaxy Z Flip didn't fare very well. The display showed marks at Mohs level 2 with deeper scratches at Mohs level 3 similar to the Samsung Galaxy Fold and the Motorola Razr (2019). At Mohs level 4, the pin could cut the display surface of the smartphone.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip durability test by JerryRigEverything also showed that poking the display with a hardness pick caused the display to get pierced, killing the column of pixels instantly, causing the display to go black in the region.