Samsung is pushing back this week’s planned public launch of its highly anticipated, $2,000 folding phone after reports that reviewers’ phones were breaking.
“Samsung said that the Galaxy Fold ‘needs further improvements’ before it releases the phone to consumers, and that it will continue to evaluate feedback it received from reviewers and further test the phone,” CNBC reported.
“Samsung said it will announce a new release date ‘in the coming weeks,'” the network added.
CNBC reported in detail about the issue last week.
“After just two days of use, the screen on CNBC’s test unit began flickering and then stopped working completely. Other reviewers noticed similar issues but had removed a protective film on top of the screen,” the network said Monday.
“CNBC did not remove that film. CNBC returned the device to Samsung, but the company has yet to explain why the unit broke.”
The delay is a setback for Samsung and for the smartphone market generally, which had been pinning some hopes on the folding phone to catalyze innovation in the industry. The Galaxy Fold, with its $1,980 price tag, was not intended to be a mass market hit, but many hoped it would hint at a new wave of smartphone advances — an area that has been lagging in recent years.
Several journalists reported the inside screens flickering, freezing and finally dying on their test units within the first couple days. Two reviewers mistakenly removed an outer plastic layer that was meant to stay on and reported scratches on the screen afterward.
Samsung confirmed last week that the layer was meant to stay on. But that didn’t explain why many reviewers saw the phone’s inside screens break.
An early inspection showed there could be issues when pressure is put on the exposed areas of the hinges that open and close the phone, Samsung said in a statement announcing the launch delay Monday. It also found an issue where “substances found inside the device affected the display performance.”
Samsung said it will to find ways to better protect the screens and explain to people that the outside protective layer must stay on.
Other test phones seemed to still be working well, and so far holding up to the Samsung pledge that the phone can be unfolded about 200,000 times in its life.
