A major weakness in the Google Pixel Fold design may have been revealed by Ars Technica's Ron Amadeo.

Despite what he describes as "the lightest possible use of the phone," the bottom of Amadeo's Pixel Fold display appeared blank and the small band of pixels at the top appeared brighter than normal, despite using the Pixel Fold. In addition, the affected pixels no longer responded to taps, making the screen even more unusable.

After investigating the phone, Amadeo believes it has found a possible cause near the edge of the display. As this close-up image shows, there is a gap between the bezel of the Pixel Fold and the plastic screen protector, exposing the bare glass laminate display. Small dust particles can be seen in this small gap, which Amadeo believes is most likely a hole in the display when the phone was folded and closed.

This gap between the screen protector and bezel is common in folding phones. However, unlike other foldable phones that have a raised bezel so that the two sides of the inner display do not touch, the bezel on the Pixel Fold is much shorter and could potentially touch one side of the screen with the other when closed.

With any foldable, it is a good idea to take great care not to leave any visible smudges on the inner display to avoid damage. This advice seems to need to be supplemented by paying particular attention to the gap between the protector and bezel of the Pixel Fold.

In our own review of the Pixel Fold, we did not encounter this problem. In fact, we liked the Pixel Fold so much that we concluded that it outperformed the previous champion, the Galaxy Z Fold 4, in several key areas in the cell phone category of the Tom's Guide Awards 2023, naming it the top folding phone. However, the Galaxy Z Fold 4, to our knowledge, has not suffered a catastrophic display failure from such a small source of damage.

Today, the Google Pixel Fold officially goes on retail sale. If you're confident that you won't suffer the same fate as this reviewer, there is a guide to pre-ordering the Pixel Fold if you want to get your order in just in time for the deadline (but beware of possible cancellations).

Hopefully, however, this story shows why you absolutely need to make sure your foldable is ready to go before you buy it. Foldables are convenient and exciting, but they remain expensive, delicate, high-tech products.

At least Google just announced that it will make it easier to buy spares for DIY repairs to the Pixel Fold.