Insert the S Pen stylus the wrong way and users could end up getting it stuck or even breaking it thanks to a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 design flaw.
Android Police first reported on the problem which can be seen from their video below:
According to the website, the Note 5's S Pen stylus can be inserted the wrong way because there's basically no resistance or any other means of letting someone know of their mistake, unlike its predecessors.
9to5Google's Dom Esposito uncovered the cause of the problem in a teardown. Essentially, there are two levers inside the slot where the S Pen goes in. Halfway up is the pen detection on lever which can catch on the stylus' clicky-top. Attempting to pull it out can jam the lever or even bend it, in turn causing irreparable damage.
"The only way to remove the S Pen without potentially doing damage is to remove the rear cover of the phone... which is only possible when the S Pen is removed from the slot," Android Police said.
The Verge also wrote about the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 design flaw to which the South Korean tech giant responded:
"We highly recommend our Galaxy Note5 users to follow the instructions in the user guide to ensure they do not experience such an unexpected scenario caused by reinserting the S pen in the other way around."
The manual does mention the issue and warns users of the problem.
For Android Police, this means Samsung is aware of the design flaw when it shipped the Note 5 and the statement "does not make it sound as though [it] plans to address the issue, merely that it expects people not to do this."
But as Kantar WorldPanel analyst Carolina Milanesi told CNET, no one reads manuals anymore. It would have been better if Samsung used social media to educate Note 5 users.
Although most users wouldn't put the S-Pen the wrong way, Jackdaw Research analyst Jan Dawson told the website that it's "unfortunate that the problem revolves around the most distinctive feature of the Note."
Whether or not the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 design flaw involving the S Pen will turn into a full-blown controversy remains to be seen.
