Motorola responds to broken Razr due to cold weather, Samsung remains silent - Android

Motorola has responded to the faulty Razr in cold weather incident. However, Samsung is still silent about the Z Flip.

Update: February 18, 2020 at 5:42 p.m. ET: A Motorola spokesperson reached out to Android Authority with an official statement on the cold weather claims from Input‘s Raymond Wong. “If consumers experience device failure related to weather during normal use, and not as a result of abuse or misuse, it will be covered under our standard warranty,” reads the statement.

Motorola also let us know that it has reached out to Input requesting that the unit be sent back to Motorola for investigation.

The full statement can be found below:

We have full confidence in razr’s display, and do not expect consumers to experience display peeling as a result of normal use. As part of its development process, razr underwent extreme temperature testing. As with any mobile phone, Motorola recommends not storing (e.g., in a car) your phone in temperatures below -4 degrees Fahrenheit and above 140 degrees Fahrenheit. If consumers experience device failure related to weather during normal use, and not as a result of abuse or misuse, it will be covered under our standard warranty. For more warranty information, please visit: www.motorola.com/device-legal.

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Original article: February 17, 2020 at 10:58 a.m. ET: Although the PR nightmare of the Samsung Galaxy Fold launch happened back in the summer, it doesn’t seem like that long ago. Unfortunately, it might be déjà vu for Samsung as the Galaxy Z Flip is now facing breakage problems out in the wild.

Additionally, the other hot foldable of the moment, the Motorola Razr, is also facing some issues.

In two particular cases, cold weather is listed as being a possible culprit for the problems. In the first case, a Galaxy Z Flip owner on Twitter recounts the story of how their new foldable cracked after only one fold (via 9to5Google). Check out the tweet and corresponding image below:

Received my Samsung Galaxy Z Flip just now. Opened the box. Removed the protective/instruction film. Flipped the phone as you would do since it’s a flip phone and this happened. I heard the crack as well. cold weather?#SamsungGalaxy #ZFlip #samsung pic.twitter.com/j8KLL2vm8d

— Amir (@mondoir) February 14, 2020

While it’s impossible to tell exactly what happened here, it doesn’t bode well for consumer confidence in the product, especially with the Galaxy Fold fiasco still pretty fresh in our minds.

However, the Galaxy Z Flip does seem to be easier to repair than the Motorola Razr. Over the past few days, news has spread about just how difficult it would be to repair a broken Razr, but a teardown video from PBK Reviews suggests that the Galaxy Z Flip won’t be as bad. That might be good news for those who have invested in the device.

Speaking of the Motorola Razr, cold weather might also be the culprit for a warped display on the review unit of Input‘s Raymond Wong. Check out some of the photos of the damage below:

According to Wong, the display warped seemingly out of nowhere after a train ride in New York City. The weather that day was slightly below freezing, so the sudden fluctuations in temperature might be what caused the breakage.

Related: Motorola Razr gets “most complicated” award from iFixit (that’s not a good thing)

While these are two isolated incidents — and there are no doubt plenty of other units out there that haven’t faced these issues, including ours here at Android Authority — they do no doubt raise eyebrows. If you are at all on the fence about foldable devices, images like the ones above likely don’t make you feel much better about the young technology.

We reached out to both Motorola and Samsung about the above incidents and will update this article should we hear back.