Samsung Galaxy Fold finally ready for launch, to hit markets in September

Samsung Galaxy Fold finally ready for launch, to hit markets in Sept.

Samsung's first foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, will go on sale from September in selected markets after the launch was delayed by screen problems earlier this year, the company said on Thursday.

Samsung is hoping its highly anticipated foldable phone will revive flagging smartphone sales but its rollout has been hampered by defects in samples reported in April, when it was originally due to hit the US market.

The delays cost the South Korean tech giant sales that could have provided a decent bump in revenue during the slow summer season.

Samsung said in a statement it had made improvements to the nearly $2,000 phone and was conducting final tests. Changes included strengthening hinges which early reviewers had found to be problematic.

Analysts said headlines about glitches with sample Folds would dampen consumer excitement around the launch.

"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," said Kim Young-woo, an analyst at SK Securities.

Samsung 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.

The world's top smartphone maker has hailed the folding design as the future in a segment that has seen few surprises since Apple Inc's groundbreaking iPhone was released in 2007.

Chinese rival Huawei Technologies Co Ltd has also announced a folding handset, the Mate X, which is expected to go on sale in September.

Samsung is still in talks with mobile carriers around the world to decide on details of the Fold's sale, a source with knowledge of the matter said.

Business Standard

$2000 Galaxy Fold's screen broke after few days of use for some reviewers

The problem seems to be related to the unit's screen either cracking or flickering, according to Twitter posts by technology journalists from Bloomberg, The Verge and CNBC.

Samsung's new Galaxy Fold, a splashy $1,980 phone that opens into a tablet, is malfunctioning for some journalist reviewers after only a day or two of use, according to posts on social media on Wednesday.

The problem seems to be related to the unit's screen either cracking or flickering, according to Twitter posts by technology journalists from Bloomberg, The Verge and CNBC who received the phone this week for review purposes. The Galaxy Fold officially goes on sale on April 26 in the United States.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd did not respond to several requests for comment.

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The South Korean company's Galaxy Fold resembles a conventional smartphone but opens like a book to reveal a second display the size of a small tablet at 7.3 inches (18.5 cm).

Although Galaxy Fold and Huawei's Mate X foldable phones are not expected to be big sellers, the new designs were hailed as framing the future of smartphones this year in a field that has seen few surprises since Apple Inc introduced the screen slab iPhone in 2007.

The problems with the new phone drew comparisons to Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 phone in 2016. Battery and design flaws in the Note 7 led to some units catching fire or exploding, forcing Samsung to recall and cancel sales of the phone. The recall wiped out nearly all of the profits in Samsung's mobile division in the third quarter of 2016.

Reviewers of the new Galaxy Fold said they did not know what the problem was and Samsung did not provide answers.

Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman tweeted: "The screen on my Galaxy Fold review unit is completely broken and unusable just two days in. Hard to know if this is widespread or not."

According to Gurman's tweets, he removed a plastic layer on the screen that was not meant to be removed and the phone malfunctioned afterwards.

Dieter Bohn, executive editor of The Verge, said that a "small bulge" appeared on the crease of the phone screen, which appeared to be something pressing from underneath the screen. Bohn said Samsung replaced his test phone but did not offer a reason for the problem.

"It is very troubling," Bohn told Reuters, adding that he did not remove the plastic screen cover.

Steve Kovach, tech editor at CNBC.com tweeted a video of half of his phone's screen flickering after using it for just a day.

Huawei Mate X and Samsung Galaxy Fold: Are foldable phones next big thing?

Smartphone makers are expected to foray into this new mobile category of foldable device.

Business Standard : Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei on February 24 introduced a foldable mobile device called the Huawei Mate X at the Mobile World Congress 2019. The device was introduced soon after South Korean electronics major Samsung showcased its foldable mobile device, the Galaxy Fold. Though other smartphone makers are also expected to foray in to this new category of foldable device, it makes one wonder if this is going to be the next big thing in the smartphone domain? Let’s find out:

What are foldable mobile devices

There is a long history of clamshell form factor devices. For example the Moto Razr phone was once a fad but the new form of foldable devices are nothing like previous generation phones. Unlike the conventional clamshell design where the screen is on one side and most of the hardware on another, the new category of mobile devices have a foldable screen, giving them a distinct identity.

Why foldable design

As seen at the unveiling event of the Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X, the foldable mobile design primarily aims at providing more screen space. Therefore, the foldable phones have a dual identity of a smartphone (folded) and a tablet (unfolded). One of the benefits of this design language is that it provides a new user experience with enhanced multitasking support.

Whatever way you look at it, the flexible FullView OLED Display gives you an unparalleled view. #HUAWEIMateX #ConnectingTheFuture #MWC2019 pic.twitter.com/6ktzyivsWg

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) February 24, 2019

Whatever way you look at it, the flexible FullView OLED Display gives you an unparalleled view.

Even though the Galaxy Fold and Mate X are the first to feature a foldable design, the two are not ready for a commercial roll out yet. These device designs may be final, but the operating system (Google Android) and apps ecosystem are still not optimised for a foldable design.

Ten years after the first Galaxy, we didn’t just change the shape of the phone, we changed the shape of tomorrow. #GalaxyFold

Learn more: https://t.co/gYYGF4ZvdJ pic.twitter.com/C8s0Jxdhkz

— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) February 20, 2019

Blown away by innovation or price? Samsung's foldable phone up for debate

Samsung wowed the smartphone industry with the first mainstream foldable screen, accompanied by a nearly $2,000 price tag.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has wowed the smartphone industry with the first mainstream foldable screen, accompanied by a nearly $2,000 price tag that generated heated debate as to whether it may prove too expensive to revive slumping sales.

The South Korean tech giant unveiled the Galaxy Fold which resembles a conventional smartphone, but which opens like a book to reveal a second display the size of a small tablet at 18.5 cm (7.3 inches). It will go on sale on April 26.

(Business Standard)

At its launch event in San Francisco on Wednesday, Samsung upped the surprise factor by briefing analysts and journalists on widely anticipated aspects ahead of time, such as 5G versions of its existing top-end Galaxy S phones.

The unveiling of the foldable device came as a shock to many in the auditorium.

"I am blown away," said Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy, adding the phone could help Samsung rejuvenate its mobile business, whose lead is under attack from China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

"I believe you can innovate your way out of a mature market," he said, noting that when Apple Inc launched the iPhone in 2007, most industry watchers believed the market had matured for $100 "candy bar" phones without touch screens.

Bob O'Donnell of TECHanalysis Research said the work Samsung had done with Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc's Google and Microsoft Corp to adapt applications to the new screen was important.

He said though Samsung had teased the folding phone before, "to see it in action, to see the software – I was like, Wow.

It's hugely important that the software experience be good." The phone, which can operate three apps simultaneously and boasts six cameras, also challenges the notion of what a phone can cost, debuting at nearly twice the price of current top-of-the-line models from Apple and Samsung itself.

"Due to price, it's likely to be sold mainly to early adopters. Prices are key to expanding sales," said former Samsung mobile executive Kim Yong-serk, who is now a professor at Sungkyunkwan University in Korea.

"It will help Samsung burnish an image as an innovative company, but it is unlikely to be profitable. I expect Apple to wait say for one year and come up with foldable phones with more features, as they did with the smartwatch," he said.