Dell has also confirmed this is an issue too — citing that the problem is down to some weak third party glue that was used to stick the panel down. So, the questions are obvious: how bad is this problem and how is Dell solving it?
What’s the problem?
Yep, we’re just as surprised as you are. Surely, one of the more important elements of any laptop is making sure the display stays in place. But yet, that’s the problem faced by some Dell XPS 13 Plus OLED. As you can see in the video showing a Best Buy staff member doing an XPS 13 Plus demonstration, the adhesive keeping the screen attached to the lid seems to be fault, resulting in the panel falling away. Comical timing of this problem aside, it’s quite the significant quality control issue that Dell has confirmed to The Verge with a statement.
What’s the fix?
In the statement, Dell talks about how the problem is limited to the OLED models of the XPS 13 Plus, so non-OLED users are not impacted. Plus, the company is “proactively reaching out to customers who may be impacted to replace the screen.” If you have a Dell XPS 13 Plus OLED and you haven’t heard from the team yet, you can get in touch directly with Dell customer support (opens in new tab) and potentially speed up the process.
Outlook
As you’ve probably read in our review, the XPS 13 Plus is a solid, if polarizing glimpse at the future of laptop design, but we didn’t anticipate manufacturing defects to be part of that future too. We applaud Dell for its statement to be proactive and hope the process is swift to fix any display issues, because while the panel falling off is definitely the most visually alarming, there have been other issues reported, such as dead pixels, weird colors and loss of touchscreen functionality. Fortunately, these issues only seem to be affecting some users rather than all, which backs up the part of Dell’s statement where the company said that the problems were “quickly corrected” in the production process. But make sure you do take up Dell’s servicing offer of a screen replacement.
