Samsung to launch redesigned Galaxy Fold in September

AppleInsider

After an embarrassing delay, Samsung on Wednesday announced its first folding smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, will launch this September after undergoing a redesign to account for screen reliability issues.

Samsung's redesigned Galaxy Fold will debut in September.

The Korean tech giant in a post to its website said the device will be ready for sale in September after missing a rollout originally set for April. The new timeline puts the foldable handset in direct competition with Apple's iPhone, new versions of which are expected to debut that same month.

According to Samsung, the new and improved Galaxy Fold features a top protective layer that has been extended beyond the bezel, making it "apparent that it is an integral part of the display structure and not meant to be removed." A number of early reviewers attempted to remove the layer thinking it was a screen protector, a user error that broke the smartphone's flexible OLED panel.

Special reinforcements like "protection caps" have been added at the top and bottom hinges and are designed to keep particulates out of sensitive areas, while additional metal layers beneath the Infinity Flex Display help strengthen the mechanism, the company said. Further, the space between the hinge and the device chassis has been reduced.

The tweaks should help alleviate problems impacting pre-release review units that went out to select news outlets and media influencers in April. Reliability issues were among the early complaints, with many noticing a distinct crease appear along the hinge line of the 7.3-inch OLED panel after repeated folding and unfolding. Some users noted corrupted graphics that in some cases rendered part, one half or the entire panel completely non-functional.

Following multiple reports of screen failures, graphics problems and other issues, Samsung decided to push back a consumer launch as it assessed the situation.

Samsung's announced enhancements are in line with previous rumors about the Fold's redesign.

In addition to hardware enhancements, Samsung has worked to optimize more apps for the unique foldable display.

Samsung Electronics CEO D.J. Koh earlier this month admitted the Fold was introduced prematurely.

"It was embarrassing. I pushed it through before it was ready," Koh said in a statement. "I do admit I missed something on the foldable phone, but we are in the process of recovery."

An official launch date will be announced in the coming weeks.

macxpress

So they're gonna try to launch it along side the next iPhone then? We'll see how that works out. 

soli

Everyone interested (party of one on this forum) should wait to see if reviewers get their hands on it and how they rate it before deciding to dive in.

macxpress said:

So they're gonna try to launch it along side the next iPhone then? We'll see how that works out. 

I don't see this as an iPhone competitor. Sure, you can only use one smartphone at a time, but people who are willing to buy this either are collectors who have more than enough funds to also buy an iPhone or simply aren't Apple customers to begin with. Even without their initial failure and setback the unit sales were going to be poor for this product.

edited July 2019

anantksundaram

Ah, September.

Is that after October?

edited July 2019

pscooter63

Anything for mindshare.  Anything at all.

"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." - Oscar Wilde

radarthekat

I’m so looking forward to this launch and the months following.  It will break again in the hands of consumers.  And again and again.  And for those who don’t have mechanical issues with the beast, they will have in their hands a too small phone display when folded and a too square tablet when unfolded.  A compromised product design in a market where a product’s physical design has for years been touted as essential to success.  Good luck, Sammy.  You’re gonna need plenty.  

anome

So does this count as version 1.0, 1.1, 1.n, or 2.0. I still think this technology is going to take until version 3 at least before it's ready, and possibly longer before anyone finds a real use for it.

chasm

I predict it will get much better reviews the second time around, because it won't suck as obviously as it did (and to be fair the design strengthening should help keep it running smoothly for the week or two the reviewers have it).

It should be noted that this will continue to be a $2,000 smartphone. Let me repeat that: the list price on this is $1,980. You could buy a base 11-inch iPad Pro and an iPhone XS for the same money, and neither one will have a crease in the screen at the fold point (you'll note the press release didn't address that problem, because its inherent to the technology). It should also be noted that this is a plastic screen (thus how it folds).

I sincerely hope that this technology gets refined and finds more practical uses in the coming years, but buyers should be aware that they are mostly buying some very expensive bragging rights rather than a road-tested and thoroughly-vetted bleeding-edge phablet like you would get from Apple (if Apple were to do something like this).

soli

anome said:

So does this count as version 1.0, 1.1, 1.n, or 2.0. I still think this technology is going to take until version 3 at least before it's ready, and possibly longer before anyone finds a real use for it.

Since it's a premature device using a largely untested, nascent foldable display tech trying to beat Huawei to market with their own premature device using a largely untested, nascent foldable display tech so I assume it's version FIRST!!!!

seanismorris

“Samsung Electronics CEO D.J. Koh earlier this month admitted the Fold was introduced prematurely.“

What he should have said:
Samsung Electronics CEO D.J. Koh earlier this month admitted the Fold will be introduced prematurely.

I’m not anti Samsung, and I’ll even consider a folding phone in the future, but I can ‘see, hear, and smell’ this train wreck coming...

It’s going to spectacular! 😂

fatman

chasm said:

I sincerely hope that this technology gets refined and finds more practical uses in the coming years, but buyers should be aware that they are mostly buying some very expensive bragging rights rather than a road-tested and thoroughly-vetted bleeding-edge phablet like you would get from Apple (if Apple were to do something like this).

The foldable is an exact definition of a ‘bleeding edge’ technology. The modern day Apple is mostly a fast follower with products sometimes considered cutting edge but never bleeding edge. 

dysamoria

This is still an entirely pointless concept. No one needs a foldable screen and no one will make one that isn’t compromised in one (or multiple) way or other.

appleexposed

dysamoria said:

This is still an entirely pointless concept. No one needs a foldable screen and no one will make one that isn’t compromised in one (or multiple) way or other.

When has Sammy gave a F*** just to be first?

Galaxy Edge
Galaxy Gear
Galaxy Fold

slurpy

radarthekat said:

I’m so looking forward to this launch and the months following.  It will break again in the hands of consumers.  And again and again.  And for those who don’t have mechanical issues with the beast, they will have in their hands a too small phone display when folded and a too square tablet when unfolded.  A compromised product design in a market where a product’s physical design has for years been touted as essential to success.  Good luck, Sammy.  You’re gonna need plenty.  

Not to mention that Android is absolutely and positively complete shit as a tablet OS. You're really getting the worst of all worlds here. A massively thick smartphone with huge bezels that looks like it came out in 2003, and a trash tablet. But hey, it folds. 

AT LEAST SAMSUNG HAS BALLS, NOT LIKE APPLE WHO CANT INNOVATE ANYMORE /s

edited July 2019

wonkothesane

anome said:

So does this count as version 1.0, 1.1, 1.n, or 2.0. I still think this technology is going to take until version 3 at least before it's ready, and possibly longer before anyone finds a real use for it.

0.9a3

bestkeptsecret

A technology on the cusp of becoming mainstream.

A square-shaped tablet.

A device running Android.

Priced at almost twice the cost of an iPhone, probably even more than a combination of an iPhone and an iPad.

An embarrassing first launch.

Yup, this thing has "win!" written all over it.

/s

rotateleftbyte

dysamoria said:

This is still an entirely pointless concept. No one needs a foldable screen and no one will make one that isn’t compromised in one (or multiple) way or other.

Of course people need a folding screen.

Ever heard of 'bragging rights'?

"Hey look at me... my phone folds in half... Ain't I sooooooooooo cooooool!"

TBH this may well fail again. Samsung really need to have thousands of people out there using this as their daily device for at least a year before trying to sell it to the public after their spectacular failure last time. If they go down in flames that could really hit the company hard.

9secondkox2

Soli said:

Everyone interested (party of one on this forum) should wait to see if reviewers get their hands on it and how they rate it before deciding to dive in.

macxpress said:

So they're gonna try to launch it along side the next iPhone then? We'll see how that works out. 

I don't see this as an iPhone competitor. Sure, you can only use one smartphone at a time, but people who are willing to buy this either are collectors who have more than enough funds to also buy an iPhone or simply aren't Apple customers to begin with. Even without their initial failure and setback the unit sales were going to be poor for this product.

It’s a phone (that happens to also try to be other things). 

Its EXACTLY an iPhone competitor. 

Its basically trying (and failing) to be the Microsoft surface of phones. 

A 2k bendy thingy trying to steal a sale away from a 1k best in class phone. 

LOL

so Samsung is trying to compete with Apple with their Gumby phablet. But the end result will be as you guessed: extremely niche. 

edited July 2019

9secondkox2

Samsung proved that they’d try to quickly pass this turd through to consumers if they could. Got caught and now on to round two. 

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...”

anyone who who actually spends hard earned money and buys this should be ashamed. 

lolliver

According to Samsung, the new and improved Galaxy Fold features a top protective layer that has been extended beyond the bezel, making it "apparent that it is an integral part of the display structure and not meant to be removed." 

So the top protective layer still "can" be removed. They have just tried to make it more obvious that you shouldn't remove it. So if you have a screen protector on the phone over the top of the protective layer and then you remove the screen protector would that also remove the protective layer? 

It seems like there are many issues that could still occur with this half baked product. 

macgui

dysamoria said:

This is still an entirely pointless concept. No one needs a foldable screen and no one will make one that isn’t compromised in one (or multiple) way or other.

This is dumbassery of the highest order. 'No one needs...' What utter bullshit. No one needs an iPhone X, Xs, or Xr. No one needs anything more than an iPhone 6. Or 7. Or maybe an 8.

The folding phone concept isn't pointless though you can't see that. The product isn't for everybody, rereleasing in this soon may mean it's not ready for anybody, still.

The execution sucks and I hope it's better this time around, though I'm hard pressed to see how they could have fixed the problem in so short a time.

Some people will buy it for bragging rights just as some people do for Apple products. It's one of Man's many foibles. I wish Sammie luck. It'll be needed. Apple won't try to compete anything close to directly with that phone. Whether they haven't tried yet, or did and put it on the back of a closet shelf- I don't know. Competition is good, and great competition is even better.