[Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] BarryH_GEG:
Updated list. 75 cracked AMOLEDs, 11 "other." That's 12 more cracked AMOLED's in a little less than a month which is about the same pace or a little less than what's been reported since the thread was started on May 20th. This thread's the first to appear in a Google search for "Galaxy S4 broken screen/display" so if it were a pandemic outside XDA people would find this thread. You can tell there are a lot of people that joined XDA to share in this thread because of their low post counts.

Hendrickson (OP)

raidenuk

beatmag (discoloration)

jdashford

scriptx

pitapart

murrowxda (AT&T)

Shadowcash ("friend's broke")

greenandroid.sb

_Supernaut

zoroko

blader0109

nevillejb75

Ace 272

epsilon8888

SSTaLoN

kuribo67

danniibxn

Toshanda (screen died)

minipcpro (YouTube video)

saspi

saspi (broke again after repair [drop])

mmessina

AMDERS17 (AT&T)

SAShady (Sprint)

ostrow30

Trax_

LadyDiana0265

XsonicX

Gash128

TeeeJaay ("friend" - GG3 cracked, not AMOLED)

rallyfan1986 (GG3 cracked, not AMOLED)

glynnd

tricki

SATAN999

asorsa

vassalle

ynr (GG3 cracked, not AMOLED)

Davidesan

johncros

kblevins1985

jamieridler

xenoninja

astbok

solwretep

mileskl (GG3 cracked, not AMOLED)

daniesq

surfsanctum

Ronis_BR (discoloration)

natsureg

MezManiac

cputoaster

RNAIL

lore-mordred

ipsthorne

hendeeze

JC604

aarontbrooksjr

ArneFW

paddy01 (“friend”)

TommyUnderwear

marcomnia (GG3 cracked, not AMOLED)

Puglis17

gcosmin

Reversephase

jay7862

androgyn

xman63

olavxxx

paddy01

halfdozen

ljruble

danny39 (dropped, AMOLED cracked but not the display panel)

bungleboy79

Canesfan

Mirdsouza

dar33 (drop?)

rafaelcts

abszero7

weldo

pepsimaxmjs

trendkilla

tanky321

debzkool

Zaron DarkStar

Djmaxi

The frame that the glass/AMOLED panel assembly (they are glued together) is attached to is magnesium; the same as the SGS3.

A promotion running in India, a pretty small high-end phone market, is hardly indicative of Samsung acknowledging an issue with the SGS4's display. Of 20MM smartphones sold in India in 2012 only 24% (4MM) had an ASP over $250 USD. So if half that went to Samsung that would be 2MM phones sold. When they are supposed to sell 60MM SGS4's this year protecting Indian's from broken displays would seem like a pretty meaningless exercise if their goal is to protect their overall sales volume.

Sigh. So what's your suggestion? Since GG3 is more resilient than the AMOLED beneath it it's totally possible for someone to drop their phone and crack just the AMOLED. And if it were in a case there wouldn't be any external visible damage. Previously posted surveys show that between 30-50% of smartphones end up with user induced display cracks from drops and falls. Are you suggesting Samsung (or any other manufacturer) offer blanket protection against screen damage? It sucks that some folks posting here seem innocent in their phone’s damage but 70-some out of 20+MM doesn't seem that catastrophic. Certainly not catastrophic enough for Samsung to pay for any and all damaged AMOLED panels. If this were something more basic like 80 power switches breaking it wouldn’t even make the front page because it’s a simple no questions asked warranty repair. The fact that AMOLEDs are breaking and people are having to pay out-of-pocket for it is because it’s impossible to tell when one has broken because it should have or from something else like a defect is what's different than any other issue or defect.

It'll have issues too. Every phone I've followed in the last eighteen months has had issues. Maybe the G2's specific issues may not bother people in the same way some of the SGS4's do but they'll still be trading one set of issues for another.