Samsung Galaxy foldable hinges don’t open flat over time and it’s probably due to debris

Ben Schoon | Mar 19 2024 - 7:03 am PT

Samsung has been putting out some excellent foldable hardware over the past five years, but there is one issues that plagues these devices over time. After a year or two of use, the hinge on Samsung foldables won’t always open completely flat as it did at launch, and the reason, it seems, is debris getting caught in the hinge.

Dust and debris getting into the hinge is one the biggest problems foldable smartphones face. Each brand takes a different approach to this and, for a while, Samsung’s solution was to use brushes inside of the hinge to keep debris away from sensitive components and, for the most part, that worked.

However, all of the devices Samsung equipped with this method of debris control faced a similar issue. Over time, the hinge wouldn’t open flat as it did when the device was brand new. The issue was more prevalent on the Galaxy Z Fold series, where the hinge is larger compared to the Z Flip.

Samsung has never really acknowledged this issue, but the explanation was pretty obvious.

As proven pretty clearly by the experience of a Galaxy Z Fold 4 owner on Reddit, debris getting caught in the hinge of the foldable build up over time. In this user’s case, the hinge was no longer opening flat, and the hinge itself was also getting scratched up. After Samsung apparently repeatedly denied warranty claims on the device due to the visible hinge damage, the user took apart the device on their own to figure out what was up, only to find hair, dust, and other debris that had built up over time. After removing that and reassembling the device, the hinge opened fully flat.

This same issue affects many Galaxy Z Fold 4 units over time, my own personal unit included. In theory, though, the issue should be getting better as Samsung improves its hardware. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 introduced a new hinge design, though Samsung never really clarified if it uses brushes to keep out debris. One noticeable difference between Fold 4 (and Fold 3, to an extent) and Fold 5, though, was the lack of an audible brushing sound when the device opened up.

So, if you’ve got a Galaxy Z Fold device that’s no longer opening up flat, it’s probably not your fault. It’s just a design quirk. Whether or not Samsung will help to clean out the hinge, though, may vary from person to person.