Samsung executive says there is no new Galaxy Fold launch date on the horizon
Just yesterday we passed along a report out of Korea stating that the redesigned version of the Samsung Galaxy Fold had successfully passed a durability test. The test consisted of sending these units to people in the industry and to professors at Seoul National University and the KAIST research institute. Not one person among this group could replicate the issues that influencers had discovered when they received their review units earlier this year. And while this would seem to indicate that the phone will soon be given a new launch date, a new report puts this in doubt.
According to WCCFTech, a Slovakian publication just spoke with David Sahula who is the Czech and Slovak spokesperson for Samsung. Sahula said that he has not been given any information concerning a new launch date for the foldable device, which could mean that we are still weeks if not months away from hearing about a new pre-order period. Now we do need to point out the obvious here; it is possible that there is a new date that Sahula has yet to be informed of, or he might have been told to keep mum about the whole thing. Last week, hopes were raised about an upcoming new launch date for the Galaxy Fold when a photo showed the improved model in the hands of someone testing the new design. This person was riding the New Delhi metro system when he was caught redhanded with the phone.
A New Delhi metro rider holds the improved Samsung Galaxy Fold
If Sammy's Czech and Slovak spokesman wasn't just following orders, it would seem that Samsung is now being incredibly cautious so that it doesn't make the same mistake twice. Earlier this month, Samsung Electronics CEO DJ Koh admitted that the company rushed out the Galaxy Fold too early. He also said that the phone will be released "in due course. Give us a bit more time." From those comments, it would seem that Samsung is in no hurry to start selling the foldable handset.
Samsung's focus is now on the Galaxy Note 10 line
After building up the excitement over the last couple of years, the Samsung Galaxy Fold was finally unveiled amid great fanfare in February. Set to be released on April 26th, the company sent out review units to influencers who started to find some issues, some of their own making. For example, despite warnings that Samsung placed on the unit, several of these influencers started peeling off what they thought was a disposable plastic film on the internal 7.3-inch screen. The film seemed similar to the kind of removable plastic that one would peel off the display of a newly purchased smartphone. But Samsung's warning indicated that removing the plastic could lead the screen to stop working, and that is exactly what happened. In addition, debris was sucked into one influencer's device through an opening at the top of a hinge causing a bulge to form on the internal display. Others found that their Galaxy Fold units just stopped working.
Samsung reportedly fixed things up by tucking the film into the casing of the phone so that it couldn't be peeled off. It also narrowed the opening on the top and bottom of the hinges to prevent foreign material from entering the device.
The warning that Samsung included with the original Galaxy Fold review units sent to influencers
Samsung's main focus now is on the Unpacked event scheduled for August 7th at Brooklyn's Barclays Center. At that event, we should see the unveiling of the Galaxy Note 10 series and possibly the Galaxy Watch Active 2. But in the back of Samsung's mind, it is keeping an eye on Huawei. The latter's own foldable, the Huawei Mate X, is now expected to be launched no later than September and Samsung was hoping to beat its rival to the market. While neither company can be the first with a foldable phone (last year the Royale FlexPai was launched), one of the two will be known as the first major manufacturer to ship such a device.
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