The Samsung Galaxy Fold was expected to be ready for release in April, but a slew of online reviews complaining about multiple issues with the foldable phone’s display had pushed its release date back indefinitely. Although Samsung has yet to officially announce a new release schedule for the Galaxy Fold, one of the company’s executives reportedly suggested that it might not be long before the device finally becomes available to the general public.
According to a report from TechCrunch , Samsung Display vice president Kim Seong-cheol announced at an event in Seoul, South Korea, earlier this week that most of the Galaxy Fold’s display problems “have been ironed out.” The executive did not mention any specific release date, but as further quoted, he added that the device is now “ready to hit the market,” close to two months after its originally scheduled late April release date.
In a separate report, NDTV noted that Kim focused on the high expectations Samsung has from the Galaxy Fold when he was speaking at the event — a conference organized by the Korean Information Display Society, as the outlet pointed out. Kim predicted that the foldable device will “receive a lot of attention” when it gets released, but no further details were shared by NDTV regarding the executive’s remarks on the Galaxy Fold.
Commenting on Kim’s announcement, TechCrunch wrote that Samsung appears to be getting ready for a “more formal” announcement, where the tech giant would reveal official release details for the Galaxy Fold after several weeks of hinting at more information to follow. The publication added that Samsung seems to be making sure that all the kinks have been ironed out, so as to avoid PR issues similar to the ones the company dealt with when its Galaxy Note 7 was recalled in 2016.
A Samsung exec has said that the Galaxy Fold issues are fixed and that it’s ‘ready to hit the market’. I’m ready, too! https://t.co/zi9WfR349A @CNET
— Jessica Dolcourt (@jdolcourt) June 19, 2019
As recalled by NDTV , the Samsung Galaxy Fold was supposed to be released on April 26 in the United States and other select countries, with base pricing set at $1,890, making it at least two times more expensive than the average high-end flagship phone. However, a number of internet reviewers who had gotten pre-release Galaxy Fold units began to share photos and videos of the device’s screen bulging or outright cracking, hence Samsung’s decision to cancel pre-orders and postpone the phone’s release date.
Based on Samsung’s investigation into the matter, the company found that there were two primary reasons why the Galaxy Fold’s screen tended to break too easily — the protective layer over the phone’s display that ostensibly looked like a temporary screen protector and large holes found in the device’s hinge that allowed unwanted debris to seep through the screen.