Samsung Galaxy Fold might not re-appear until after the Galaxy Note 10

After five years of rumours surrounding Samsung's foldable smartphone experiments, this year the Galaxy Fold was officially announced. The initial launch should have happened already but reviewers swiftly began experiencing display failures, forcing Samsung to push back its release. Things have been quiet since then, but Samsung has apparently found a fix and is gearing up for round two, but it will be coming later than planned, potentially even after the Galaxy Note 10.

Back in May, a report citing sources within Samsung claimed that the company has found a fix for the Galaxy Fold's display issues and is already testing design revisions in South Korea. Since then, there have been rumours of a July release date but according a Samsung spokesperson speaking with The Korea Herald, that won't be the case.

Back in May, Samsung CEO, DJ Koh, was quoted as saying that Samsung has “reviewed the defect caused from substances entering the device” and will have new launch plans in place soon. This led to rumours of a July launch but a Samsung spokesperson has said that “nothing has progressed since the April delay”.

There were two main issues with the Galaxy Fold. Firstly, the phone ships with protective laminate that looks very similar to the standard screen protector all phones ship with. This laminate is not supposed to be removed and doing so leaves the screen at risk of damage. To get around this, the edges of the laminate are now tucked in to the phone to discourage removal attempts.

The second major issue was screen failure. There are small gaps in the hinge in the Galaxy Fold and if something slips through there, like dust, or a liquid, then it can get stuck behind the display and cause issues. To get around this, Samsung is apparently making these holes smaller to decrease risk.

Back in May, Samsung did begin informing Galaxy Fold pre-order customers that their reservation may be cancelled due to the delay unless they opted in to keep it. Currently, a new release date has yet to be announced by Samsung but it is looking increasingly likely that it won't arrive before the Galaxy Note 10 launch in August.

KitGuru Says: The Galaxy Fold is an expensive phone that Samsung put years and years worth of R&D into creating. It is a shame that the launch has been hampered like this but hopefully we'll get some status updates from Samsung soon, especially as we are getting closer to the Galaxy Note 10 launch. 

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