- Broken display? Broken hinge on your foldable phone? Get ready to pay a fortune to cover the cost.
- Displays and hinges appear to be the most expensive components to fix.
- It creates a question whether is it worth owning a foldable phone at least at this point in time.
The cost of fixing foldable phones is much more than buying a new mid-range smartphone. Well, it can be overwhelming for many, but it is true. The latest Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 and Flip7 are among the ones with a high cost to repair in case you are clumsy, and your phone tends to fall, slip, or drop at times.
Skyrocketing cost of fixing foldable phones
Turns out, a report by SamMobile uncovers a revelation regarding the ballooning repair costs on Samsung foldables and suggests how you can buffer yourself from paying a fortune after buying these futuristic-looking foldables.
According to SamMobile, it costs you around USD610 or EUR525 to fix the cover display on a Fold7 if it is broken. When it comes to the inner foldable display, which is perhaps more delicate than the cover display, it costs around USD885 or EUR761 to repair. This is just the cost of components; labor costs will be added to the final bill, which provides a clearer picture of these vital costs associated with owning a foldable device.
Huawei Mate XT Ultimate Design, a triple-fold smartphone, costs around 7,999 Yuan (or $1,123) to change its foldable screen. The Oppo Find N series exceeds $1,000 in repair costs when it comes to replacing the foldable displays.
It’s not just the display, but hinges are quite expensive too. Repairing the hinges that actually holds the two (or three) halves of the device is something worth a fortune.
Getting Samsung Care+ on Samsung foldable phones offers the best avenue to buffer yourself from the ballooning repair costs. It costs around $256 per year to insure a Fold7 and gets you insane coverage for accidental screen or back glass damage. Similarly, other smartphone makers have their own protection plans to ensure their respective products.
Similarly, we have Huawei Care+ for Huawei devices, and OnePlus has screen-only protection plans for the US and EU. The OnePlus Protection Plan for the US for 2 years costs $329. Unfortunately, there’s no Oppo Care+ in the US. You can still get it in Australia for A$99, although you won’t be able to take its benefits internationally.
Our opinion…
I am never against technology, and foldable phones are one of them, which is actively progressing. It won’t take much time for smartphone OEMs to fab displays that have superior resilience and resistance to falls and drops.
Although these devices have come a long way since the original Samsung Galaxy Fold was introduced in 2019, fixing foldable phones, especially when it comes to their displays, is expensive, and thus, a lot of precaution is required.
