I think you overestimate the capabilities of an eDP cable, but let's not argue.
The bad driver hypothesis can be proved or rejected by connecting an external monitor.
Looks like a defective screen, but there is a small chance of driver issue.
The screen cable can't cause such problems. It can spoil the entire image, but it can't cause sporadic flickering of different areas. I have an old article about laptop screen defects on this link that may be useful for...
In my company we have sold 500+ Kingston SSDs (A400, NV2, NV3), some of them more than 5 years ago. Only 2 of them have failed within the warranty period. I can't agree that they are less reliable than Samsung. Samsung are overrated and have a much higher fall-our ratio.