It seems there is a bit of a design flaw with Samsung’s newest Galaxy TabS5e. If held the wrong way, the tablet drops Wi-Fi signal and ultimately disconnects.
Users have taken to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and other online forums to vent their frustration and ask why, when the tablet is held in certain ways or conditions, the tablet loses its connection to Wi-Fi entirely. The issues arises when users hold the lower-left corner of the device (when held horizontally, front-facing camera to the left).
SamMobile has speculated that the issue arises due to the Wi-Fi components being placed in this section of the tablet, which seems like a pretty safe assumption.
If it is this hardware configuration which causes the issue, this isn’t something Samsung can fix through a software update. It could only be fixed by changing the hardware. It’s also unclear if this issue would be significant enough to necessitate a recall, or whether Samsung’s doing much about the issue at all.
For a WiFi tablet, connectivity is going to be a essential requirement most of the time. If held in this way – a fairly sensible way to hold a tablet when doing just about anything – the WiFi dropouts are going to make using this tablet quite frustrating. This design flaw is another in a growing line of issues faced by Samsung in recent years – Note 7 battery issues, flammable washing machines, breaking Galaxy Fold displays, and now WiFi tablets that don’t work when held intuitively.
We will be reaching out to Samsung here for comment.
