Samsung Asks iFixit To Take Down Galaxy Fold Teardown
It has barely been three years since the Galaxy Note 7 started catching fire and here is Samsung again trying to fend off one of the biggest fiascos in its history. Fortunately for the company, it isn't something it could be sued over yet (unless you consider existing pre-orders) and it's more of a PR and image problem for the smartphone giant. It isn't doing itself any favors, though, by asking iFixit to remove its teardown analysis of the problematic Galaxy Fold that clarifies what really caused the issues and, consequently, what future users should be careful about.
iFixit's teardown actually just confirms what many suspected all along. The ingress of small particles caused the display to misbehave and that was caused either by removing the protective film or by some inherent design flaw in the Galaxy Fold. In other words, it wasn't looking good for Samsung and its pioneering foldable phone.
It's looking even worse now that Samsung has asked iFixit to remove that post (which will never be forgotten by the Internet anyway). A teardown would have been inevitable anyway, so it's not like they were trying to protect some industry or company secret. All it does is make it look like the company is trying to silence critics and sweep the problem under the rug.
iFixit complied with the request but not because Samsung said so. In fact, it makes it clear that it has no legal obligation to comply with such a flimsy request. It was only out of respect for the partner that provided the Galaxy Fold that they took down the post, a partner that iFixit says is an ally in the repairability crusade.
If Samsung really wanted to protect some secret design in the Galaxy Fold, it could and should have asked iFixit to withhold from publishing a teardown from the very start. It's not like it didn't know the teardown experts would do such a thing, given how interesting and notorious the phone is. Since Samsung opted to just react instead, now it's looking more shameful in trying to hide evidence of its shortcomings.