Google Pixel Fold

Pixel Folds are already breaking, but that’s not the problem

Ben Schoon | Jun 29 2023 - 2:00 pm PT

It’s only been a couple of days since Google started delivering Pixel Folds to customers, and already, devices are breaking. Is it time to panic? Not yet.

The Google Pixel Fold is a $1,800 folding smartphone akin to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series. It has a 7.6-inch display inside that folds in half but has a layer of ultra-thin glass and a plastic protector on top for some amount of protection.

The first example of a broken Pixel Fold came from Ron Amadeo of ArsTechnica. Four days in, his review unit malfunctioned due to a microscopic puncture in the display in the area not covered by a plastic screen protector. The OLED panel was still covered in ultra-thin glass, but the exposed area took an unlucky hit that killed the display.

Beyond that, at least two Pixel Fold customers have had their new foldables break after just a day or two. On r/PixelFold, the first story came from u/crazymojo83, who saw their display crack at the crease and worsen over time. The panel itself was still working, but obviously, it was a big problem for a device that was just hours out of the box.

Today, u/floatingOnTheForth is describing a similar situation.

Their Pixel Fold unit was left broken in the exact same fashion just a day into ownership, with the same horizontal cracks growing underneath the screen protector.

So far, that’s two broken Pixel Folds, both not the result of user error. Obviously, that’s concerning, especially considering only a limited number of Pixel Folds have shipped thus far. But, at the same time, it feels obvious that this was always going to happen.

Folding phone tech has significantly improved in the few years since Samsung’s first Galaxy Fold, but it still has drawbacks and weak points. After all, how could it not? We’re talking about a screen and glass that folds in half. Foldables are much more durable than people seem to give them credit for, but the Achilles’ Heel of it all is that foldables can spontaneously and unexpectedly break. It’s an inherent and known risk of buying this new technology.

In 2021, my Galaxy Z Flip 3 review unit spontaneously shattered, and it was a good reminder that when things go wrong on a foldable, they go very wrong.

Thankfully, that’s not the norm anymore, at least for Samsung’s foldables. The first couple of generations saw broken devices in sizeable quantities despite minimal customers, whereas the latest generations are seeing fewer reports despite more and more people buying these devices. It’s still happening, of course, but not quite as frequently.

Broken Samsung foldables and Pixel Folds will always have a harsher impact online because, after all, someone spent the better part of $2,000 on a device that’s now broken – and not necessarily of their own fault.

Pixel Folds are going to break. They were always going to break, but the appearance of a couple of broken devices doesn’t mean there’s a major problem – yet. That could change, but let’s not raise the alarm just yet. Broader availability, especially at retail, will be the real turning point for this story.

Instead, the more immediate problem will depend on how Google handles the situation. And that’s where things get complicated. Samsung already had been less than stellar at handling broken foldables. In 2020, Ryan Whitwham, the former reviews editor at Android Police, detailed a horror story of a lost shipment and poor customer service at Samsung while trying to replace a Galaxy Z Fold 2, and he wasn’t alone there.

In the case of Pixel Fold, there’s an uphill battle.

Google is notorious for poor customer support, with examples of customers being relegated to Reddit for help, and those issues date back all the way to the first Pixel. And, with the Pixel Fold, it doesn’t seem to be much different. u/floatingOnTheForth explains that Google Support somehow shipped a replacement device to the wrong address (in a different state) and claimed it couldn’t be changed. And that’s for a customer who had two Folds on their credit card, totaling nearly $4,000.

Google needs to be better at handling issues on the Pixel Fold, more so than any other.