Little progress seems to have been made on the launch of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Fold, as the company on Friday denied rumors that the world’s first foldable smartphone would be released in July.
There have been rumors that the foldable device would be unveiled to Korean media in June and released on the market in July.
Last week, Samsung’s smartphone business chief Koh Dong-jin told a Korean media outlet that the phone would arrive before July.
(DPA-Yonhap)
However, according to Samsung and its partners, the schedule of a media event for the foldable phone in Korea and its official launch have not been set yet.
“If we are running such a media event this month, we should be doing something by now,” said a Samsung official. “Nothing has progressed since the April delay.”
It has been over 1 1/2 months since Samsung delayed the Galaxy Fold’s launch in the United States, initially set for April 24, due to defects in the foldable screen found by reviewers in the US.
The company has since repeatedly stated that the release date would be announced in the “coming weeks.”
According to reports, Samsung had internally aimed to introduce the Galaxy Fold after fixing the display defects by no later than June.
In early May, the top brass of the South Korean tech giant’s smartphone business held confidential meetings to confirm the new schedule for the rollout of the foldable model.
At the time, Samsung told The Korea Herald that it had completed its internal inspection of samples that had broken on some occasions, such as when the top protective layer of the main display was removed or when some substances were found on exposed areas on the top and bottom of the hinge. It added that it was in the process of establishing measures to fix the problem.
These included strengthening the durability of the exposed areas on the hinge and minimizing the tiny gap between the protective layer and the bezel of the main display in order to prevent external substances from penetrating into the device, according to the company.
Some Samsung officials and engineers were given user trial versions. They were spotted using the foldable device at public places, hinting that it was still being tested.
In the meantime, US customers are canceling preorders for the Galaxy Fold.
According to US-based media outlets, AT&T, the largest mobile carrier in the country has informed customers that preorders of the Galaxy Fold are being canceled because “Samsung delayed the release of the phone, which means we can’t ship your phone.”
The country’s biggest electronics retailer Best Buy canceled the whole volume of its preorders last month.
By Song Su-hyun (
song@heraldcorp.com)