Samsung Galaxy Fold To Relaunch In September
Take two. Samsung says September will see relaunch of its Galaxy Fold in selected markets
Samsung’s first foldable smartphone will go on sale in September in selected markets, the electronics giant confirmed on Thursday.
The groundbreaking folding smartphone had been slated to arrive in US shops on 26 April and in the UK on 3 May. The price is a hefty $2,000 (£1,800).
But Samsung was forced to postpone the launch after early reviewers reported faults with the folding display, which halted media events for the device in the Far East.
Galaxy Fold
The boss of Samsung, co-CEO DJ Koh earlier this month admitted that the delayed launch of its folding smartphone, was ‘embarrassing.’
He reportedly said he had pushed the Galaxy Fold to market “before it was ready. An executive in June had confirmed that the faults had been fixed with the device.
And now according to Reuters, the Galaxy Fold, will go on sale from September in selected markets.
It quoted Samsung as saying that it had made improvements to the phone and was conducting final tests. Changes included strengthening hinges which early reviewers had found to be problematic.
But after the problems were first revealed, analysts predicted it would dampened consumer confidence in the device.
“Consumer confidence in Galaxy Fold has significantly deteriorated. If Samsung manages to sell 300,000 devices this year, that can be a decent performance given the delay,” Kim Young-woo, an analyst at SK Securities was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Samsung reportedly said earlier that it planned to make at least 1 million Fold handsets in the first year, versus the total 300 million phones it produces annually on average.
Rival devices
But others are waiting in the wings to pounce, if Samsung cannot prove that the design concept works and is robust.
Samsung had first revealed the Galaxy Fold to the world in February, as it was under pressure at the time to bring it to market ahead of rivals Huawei and Xiaomi.
Huawei’s folding handset, the Mate X, is expected to go on sale in September.
There is no word on a release date for the Xiaomi device.
