iFixit’s new Galaxy Fold teardown finds “chainmail armor” under the display

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  The many, many parts of the Galaxy Fold.

The Samsung Galaxy Fold finally launched in the US on Friday after a five-month delay, and with retail units out in the wild, the phone has reappeared on iFixit's teardown bench.

iFixit previously tore down the Galaxy Fold back in April, before the phone was even technically released, having somehow acquired a recalled unit. iFixit really explored the device, providing details about why the phones were dying early and suggesting solutions for Samsung. Samsung did not take kindly to its design failures being laid bare before the Internet, and it went after iFixit's supplier, forcing the site to remove the teardown. The original teardown from April is still up on Archive.org, though, and can now be freely compared to this new Galaxy Fold teardown after five months of reworking back at Samsung HQ.

Samsung Galaxy Fold

• iFixit’s new Galaxy Fold teardown finds “chainmail armor” under the display
• After a five-month delay, the $2,000 Galaxy Fold arrives in the US on Friday [Updated]
• Samsung details Galaxy Fold fixes, promises re-launch in September
• Samsung CEO calls Galaxy Fold launch failure “embarrassing”
• Samsung puts the screws to iFixit, makes it remove the Galaxy Fold teardown

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First, the Galaxy Fold has gained some weight. During the original launch in April, the device was specced at 263g, but now the device is 276g. A good bet for where that extra 13 grams of weight came from was in Samsung's description of the Fold redesign, which included "additional metal layers" under the display. iFixit writes that this is actually a flexible, "chainmail armor" that now lives immediately under the display.

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