My Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 Won't Open Fully (The 180 Degrees Hinge Problem)

[@KevinMuldoon]

Samsung have now returned my phone. Check out my follow-up video about the issue at kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3XSlYlnbrh6gaM

[@SKTK612]

I cleaned my fold 4 with a bit of alcohol, then I applied few drops of engine oil and fold and unfold it multiple times and now it's work just like a brand new.

[@chuckledude1983]

Yea i had the same issue, im a phone technician and ill tell you one thing sir . The part where he said that theres air trapped inside pushing the the screen out is an utter lie , its not a hydrolic press . If your phone is a clean and dosent have debrief or lint in the hinge mechanism ,then its most likely that the plastic tape got stuck in the hinge . Its the most common problem for fold users . The plastic tape has small brushes on it which helps to move dust out of the hinge but sometimes it backfires and causes the tape to peeloff . The only way to get rid of this problem is to remove the tape or to get a new housing with display . I changed my housing 3 times as i have samsung care plus , cost me 10k for each repair ie nealry 120 dollars. If you dont have samsung care plus then i suggest you not to replace the whole housing and display. Instead ask a private repairmen to remove the plastic tapes from the hinge . Its a very risky job so its not gonna be cheap but its the better way to go as once the tape is removed you no longer have to worry about this problem from happening again , good luck sir .

[@KevinMuldoon]

Thanks for the insight. It does seem like a design flaw and a case of when the problem arises, not if. I'm a little reluctant to buy another Samsung Fold until their quality control is better.

[@chuckledude1983]

@@KevinMuldoon what i found out from my personnel experience is that when exposed to extreme climate the brush sticked onto the side using a plastic tape tends to get loose and eventually get inside the hinge mechanism.. the best way to avoid this problem is not to open it in extreme cold or hot .. its beeen 3 months since my last trip to samsung care , and ive changed my phone display 3 times .. so far theres no problem ..

[@KevinMuldoon]

@chuckledude1983 Thats crazy. Three times in three months. I do like the idea of fixing problems myself, but it looks like it's occurring all the time. Frustrating.

[@hasanb7537]

Thank you for sharing these details. The question is, what would happen if the tape is removed? Will the screen be more likely to break because of water and dust?

[@KevinMuldoon]

@hasanb7537 I suspect the phone will stop working as it's part of the folding mechanism.

[@marlonjenkins7447]

Yep. Mine did the same thing. Had to get it replaced thru warranty. The brushes come off and get jammed up in the hinge. I really hope they fix this before the fold 6.

[@KevinMuldoon]

Do you know if the fold 5 has had the same issue?

[@t_tune664vds9]

I just cleaned my fold 4 on the hinge part with water and a small paper it's complete flat again ! And no damage.. it works complete like new again.

[@KevinMuldoon]

I did read many people suggesting that before, but was a bit reluctant as I saw others say it could cause more damage. As my phone was still under warranty, it was better to just sent it back for repair.

[@Darkendlink]

Just tried this, the paper got wet and stuck, Then there was Sizzling noise and a burning battery smell. While the heat was rising like crazy

[@Darkendlink]

In other words, even if it did work It is way to risky!

[@pierre9620]

@@KevinMuldoon Samsung will never ever give you warranty for that. They will send you some pictures from every scratch on youre Phone and will say that those are the reason for the defect. Crazy i know but i know how they Do it

[@TimeToUnbox1]

Damn, luckily mine is still OK, kudos to Samsung for accepting the repair

[@KevinMuldoon]

Yeah they arranged the return immediately. Surprised at how easy it all was.

[@cheesytoot7607]

you probably just helped them a ton

[@joeyjoey7972]

this is a major problem with folds, i will avoid the fold series all together, this is caused by the waterproofing coming apart and getting caught in the hinge. Samsung have the worst warranty and will try and accuse you of damaging the phone. Stick to a slab phone.

[@nikhilharidas87]

I have a fold 4. Nice phone but not worth the money I paid

[@SloppyToppy-rq6fo]

Yup you are 100 % right! How do I fix that tho? Just point me in a direction please if you can thank you🙏

[@KevinMuldoon]

I'd advise against repairing it yourself unless you have experience with repairing phones. Best bet is to either get it repaired by Samsung under warranty or pay for a repair shop or company to repair it.

[@Roro-fu4uy]

That happened today to my z flip 3 and u passed a paper card through the hinge and it actually got so much dust out of it but after u did it more it got worst and I don't know what to do

[@KevinMuldoon]

I was scared to do that as I read some people saying it could make it worse ( though others said it did help).

[@addizx]

I had same issue... put it under water and clen between metal parts of the hinge with a verry thin and resistan plastic foil... worked

[@KevinMuldoon]

So it sounds like a lot of debris got in between. I tried a plastic tool to get some dirt out, but didn't extensively clean it.

[@marcoatzeri3451]

I had the same problem this week mate. I went to a samsung customer center and they changed all my phone, screen, batteries and hinge. I have a new phone now with even the peels applied, it's pretty amazing. Now I'm thinking what to do, if selling it or not... it's new

[@KevinMuldoon]

Congratulations. That's great they repaired and replaced everything👍

[@sarajuamin]

That happened to my phone. When I went to the Samsung store(India - Ahmedabad) for repair, they said it would cost INR 45000 for the repair 😮 Looks like since you are a KZbin reviewer they helped you quickly. Not the same with me.

[@KevinMuldoon]

They did not know I was a KZbinr. I just gave them my warranty information 👍

[@Samplays465]

My fold 3 has that issue after a fall yesterday

[@KevinMuldoon]

Sorry to hear that. Do you know how much a repair would cost out of warranty?

[@ahmadalfaleh7100]

I have the same problem with my fold 4, and i went to the Samsung they said ur phone is not covered by warranty because there is a small scratch 😂 I told them that scratched less than to see it by ur eyes, but also they didn't expect I will never buy any more

[@KevinMuldoon]

That's really unfortunate. I had a positive experience so I'm surprised they even raised the scratch as an issue. Sounds like they're suggesting you dropped it.

[@MrKevin920]

Wish you could remove the hinge cover to clean it that would save a lot of devices

[@KevinMuldoon]

Yeah the design is flawed.

[@MrKevin920]

@KevinMuldoon They could of had a screw on each end to just remove the cover would of been so simple

[@CougarMutt]

GREAT VIDEO Contacted Samsung support and requested a walk in repair Appt is at 2:30pm today THANKS!!!

[@KevinMuldoon]

Fantastic. Sounds like they're going to try and sort everything quickly for you.

[@CougarMutt]

@@KevinMuldoon I will let you know how the warranty repair goes this afternoon. My appt is in about 4 hours, and it should be free, right? According to the email from Samsung, it is under warranty till April.

[@KevinMuldoon]

@@CougarMutt Yeah as long as it's still under warranty, you should be ok. 👍

[@joeyjoey7972]

did they fix it?@@CougarMutt

[@rishabh6494]

Hey can you give an update on what solution you got and how much you paid

[@EDouble1]

Hopefully no offense will be taken to this but the title of this video is a little misleading. The phone won't *OPEN* completely. It closes just fine.

[@KevinMuldoon]

No offense taken. It's a very good point. I've adjusted the video title accordingly👍

[@EDouble1]

@@KevinMuldoon Thank you sir! Have a happy new year!!

[@KevinMuldoon]

@EDouble1 You too. Best wishes to you and your family.👍

[@ODTMedia]

I’ve also had this, 5 months after my fold 4, had to get a replacement

[@KevinMuldoon]

Geez. It must be super common.

[@MissGlassButterfly]

Mine suddenly started doing that this week, not dropped, not been near water, not been near any dust or dirt but its not opening flat and its so annoying. I loved this phone but now I'm getting feelings of regret for switching from iPhone. Isn't even gonna resell well with this issue 😕

[@hasanb7537]

How long have you had it for?

[@KevinMuldoon]

I was the same. Phone was in mint condition but it just happened out of the blue.

[@MissGlassButterfly]

@hasanb7537 6 months ish but I lightly use the full fold screen so it has had very light wear so it's weird

[@MissGlassButterfly]

@KevinMuldoon it's so weird and it annoys me. I hate to say I might go back to the simplicity of iPhone after this as I switched for the ingenuity but its finicky

[@vladimirzarukin3103]

Here in US its 12 months, my phone was around 1.4 years into use, the hinge went bad like this one, but in about a week things went interesting, phone wouldnt work when you close it/closed, also takes half a min to start charging after unfold/folded, main screen (small) does not react to most touches, only push and hold and sides of the screen, if you manage to open something screen works fine, on top of that...if you open phone when its charging it will work as normal, you can even close it back it will work, but if its not on charging cable, it dies. Samsung didnt wanna help me, besides trade in offers ($1000) + my phone(fk them), the technicians told me to change a charging port ($150) and or inner lcd (almost $600) and if that doesnt work in its motherboard (basically new phone) so, Im not buying another folding (Samsung phone) again

[@KevinMuldoon]

That's a disappointing response from Samsung. Their only positive response was to trade in the phone and that forces you to spend even more money with them. My experience with Samsung was positive, but I wouldn't buy another folding phone from them at this time.

[@vladimirzarukin3103]

@KevinMuldoon yeah, 3 times they've told me it's out of warranty nothing we can do...right, 2k phone that brakes in a year of light use, like, really light use, maybe 10-20 openings a day, Samsung has become greedy and unreliable company

[@KevinMuldoon]

Their trade in prices are really bad too. If you buy towards the end of the year, just before their new release, you could spent 2,000 bucks on a fold and get offered around 600 or so trade in just a few months later. In addition to reliability, depreciation is the biggest issue with these phones.

[@vladimirzarukin3103]

@KevinMuldoon I had fold 3 for a year and traded it in for fold 4 to Google fi with additional $200 or so, so that's a trade in, not that 1k bs

[@jaii_ii]

Fortunately, mine's still working fine. Any updates to yours though? Also, do i have to pay sammy for repair if ever my device encounters this sort of problem even if i didn't pay for samsung care? Thankss

[@KevinMuldoon]

Hi Jaii. Samsung have advised it's being delivered this week. I'll do a follow up video when it arrives. I didn't have to pay anything as it was covered by their two year warranty and it was clear I hadn't did any damage to the phone myself. 👍

[@jaii_ii]

Woah, alright. Thank you, sir.

[@KevinMuldoon]

@@jaii_ii The follow up video is now online at kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3XSlYlnbrh6gaMsi=w0J85HJEg1a0rVfN

[@jaii_ii]

@@KevinMuldoon alright so the same issue happened to mine unfortunately, mine is given free by my carrier, does warranty still apply if it was given as a freebie? i await for a reply

[@KevinMuldoon]

I have no idea what type of contract you have or what terms it's under. I suspect you still have a warranty with Samsung, but I'd check with your carrier or with Samsung to see when the warranty expires.

[@markstokes5398]

Send it to Samsung they are very helpful with there phone extremely helpful

[@shaniaku23]

You are a blogger so samsung helped and changed the display or hinge for you but in other people cases they just put it on the user and tell them that its their mistake and they should pay for it. Very bad service support from @samsung

[@KevinMuldoon]

They didn't know who I was. I didn't contact them in a professional capacity. All they knew was that I was from the UK and my phone was under warranty.

[@jihadhamwi]

Sams happened with me, after 8 months it did the same , bot opening 180 degree.i really enjoyed this phone but this problems happened also with my friends , 😔

[@KevinMuldoon]

Is it still under warranty?

[@jihadhamwi]

@@KevinMuldoon yes..the warranty in global , I went to Samsung and they said it cost 525 usd .because it is a mechanical issue...

[@KevinMuldoon]

@jihadhamwi Thats disappointing as it's clearly a design flaw. I loved my fold but reluctant to buy another because of this issue.

[@mickrossco]

I also have the same problem. And just about to try to sort it out. As you said, yourself been an absolute brilliant phone until yesterday. But we ll get to Samsung as soon as possible. I did previously have a problem with my 3. With the screen having a defect in the centre. They also sent that back and also replaced the battery. Did try through Vodafone? They sent it me back, saying wasn't under warranty, but Samsung were very good.

[@KevinMuldoon]

I bought mine sim free so went direct to Samsung. I'm sure Samsung will repair yours if it's still under warranty👍

[@mauriluciano6140]

i have the same problem second time! this phone is nightmare!

[@KevinMuldoon]

That's a pain. I decided to sell it as I didn't have the confidence it wouldn't happen again.

[@mauriluciano6140]

@@KevinMuldoon I have work with this phone and thats not cool when your important tool broke all the time. I have now s23 ultra way better and way better a normal phone in generall. Happy that i switched. But i don't understand why its not do public thid problems with fold 4 because it happend to me 2 times in few months this mean normaly every user see this problem for sure 1 time. But this problem is serious the phone is broken when the hinge stops. I have also see you can not remove the inner screen its very difficult. And sur it sounds logic how you want to open this phone when its closed.

[@KevinMuldoon]

@@mauriluciano6140 The Ultra looks amazing. I was tempted with it the other year, but opted for the fold 4 at the time. Folding phones are so much fun to use, but the reality is they are still a risky investment as they're expensive and there are clearly at risk of breaking. The thing is, tech companies don't want to publicly share how many returns they get as it's bar publicity. It's the kind of thing that popular tech KZbinrs should be more vocal of, but they aren't. There's a few reasons for this. One reason is that 90% of their traffic from new phones and tech comes in the first month or so and then taperes off. This results in many videos being rushed out without long term testing. Secondly, a large number of tech KZbinrs will have to purchase the phones themselves and then aim to sell it as soon as possible to stop losing too much on depreciation. So they probably don't even own the phone to do a long term review unless it's their personal device. Thirdly, there isn't a lot of traffic from doing those types of videos a year after release as everyone is searching for reviews or the latest model. Maybe I'm cynical, but I suspect that KZbinrs who are sent products to review do not want to rock the boat and post negative videos either. All of this contributes to not enough people warning others about the risks of buying a folding phone. I've seen a similar thing with laptop reviews. The Razer subreddit is full of complaints of bloating batteries and had been for years, though reviewers rarely mention this or the fact that their known for poor customer service for returns.

[@dim_dimasdim]

Any new update yet?

[@KevinMuldoon]

It has just been delivered. I'll try and upload a video about it tomorrow or the next day👍

[@coxyofnewp]

Your hinge mechanism has moved - It happened to my mate, luckily he got it sorted with a friend who runs a repair shop, and it got fixed.He could have got Samsung to do it - but is was a few weeks..

[@KevinMuldoon]

Oh I didn't even know there was a risk of that happening. I don't mind it being away for a few weeks. Hopefully they'll be able to fix it.

[@coxyofnewp]

@@KevinMuldoon Yeah don't think Samsung want people to think it can happen ;) hmmm we it does Samsung.

[@KevinMuldoon]

@@coxyofnewp Agreed. The reality is that the fold is still an expensive concept phone so there are risks. I loved the phone too. It was a lot of fun.

[@tenniegk7424]

I have same issue and I'm not getting any help.

[@allday2828]

I got the paper stuck inside the hinge 😂😢

[@KevinMuldoon]

Ouch. I was worried about that too so decided against it.

[@Ej78official]

Same my phone...

[@KevinMuldoon]

I'd send it back if it's still under warranty👍

[@sultanzainulabidin9304]

Tell the solution

[@KevinMuldoon]

Mine was to return it to Samsung, who repaired it.