If you’ve picked up the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 you might want to check what kind of charger you’re using, as Samsung has said using high-speed third-party options could cause your phone’s paint to peel off.
This comes after several reports appeared across social media that Z Fold 6 phones of all colors are having their outer paint coating peel away to reveal the plain metal underneath – not something you want to see happen to your brand new phone – especially one that costs $1,899.99 / £1,799 / AU$2,749.
An official Samsung statement gives two reasons why this issue is happening. The first concerns third-party chargers; if you’re holding the phone while using a “high-speed third-party charger that is not properly grounded” the leakage current can cause the anodized paint to “delaminate,” to use Samsung’s official alternative language to describe the paint flaking off.
To avoid this, Samsung recommends you don’t hold the phone while it charges, and you either use an official Samsung charger or a wireless charger that meets the Qi standard. It also recommends that you take care to avoid counterfeits that claim to meet Samsung’s standards but don’t.
The other excuse Samsung provides relates to phone-powered EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation) massagers. Much the same as with the chargers, if you hold the phone while using the massager, the leakage current can cause the paint to come off your phone
The massager issue is perhaps a little understandable as it’s not a standard way to use a smartphone, however, what make’s Samsung’s charger comments all the more frustrating is people wouldn’t have to rely on third-party chargers if it simply included one in the Galaxy Z Fold 6’s box. Instead you just get a USB-C cable – an annoying trend practically everyone in the tech industry is following.
How many fold users are having issues with paint? from r/GalaxyFold
Beyond reeking of victim blaming given this context, the paint peeling explanation feels especially odd because it’s not a problem we’ve seen from other Samsung devices or other smartphones when using third-party chargers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Samsung’s excuse hasn’t been well received (you can see some of the reactions across various subreddits).
We’ll have to wait and see if Samsung releases a follow-up explanation, or even offers some kind of a fix – perhaps finally including an official charger with the Z Fold 6, and sending one out to people who bought it already – but for now it unfortunately looks like your only courses of action are buy a new phone charger, buy a case to hide the peeling, or see if you can return your Z Fold 6 under warranty and get a new one.
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hamish.hector@futurenet.com (Hamish Hector)
