The Samsung Galaxy Fold. Image: Samsung
After a number of complications with the folding phone’s hinge and screen, it looks like Samsung is finally ready to start assembling its Galaxy Fold devices.
In April 2019, a considerable amount of the excitement surrounding Samsung’s Galaxy Fold was extinguished after it emerged that the bendable, foldable smartphone was likely to break within a day or two of use.
At the time, Siliconrepublic.com reported: “As well as cracks and bumps appearing along the hinge of the device, early users have also complained of display issues. Particularly, users are making an all-too-easy mistake of removing the top protective layer, mistaking it for a temporary screen cover.”
The planned launch on 26 April was scrapped after it became clear that issues were affecting a handful of users who had been given the opportunity to test the phone out.
Although customers had good reason to be concerned about committing to purchasing the smartphone, retailing at about €1,750, many put their trust in Samsung to solve the issues before the phone was released to the general public. Following this debacle, Samsung had to announce that it was halting pre-orders of the device due to exceptionally high demand.
However, now it looks like the most notable issue with the phone has been solved. Citing Samsung sources, Bloomberg reported how the company solved the ‘screen cover’ issue: “It has now stretched the protective film to wrap around the entire screen and flow into the outer bezels so it would be impossible to peel off by hand.”
Issues with the hinge have reportedly also been solved, Bloomberg added: “It reengineered the hinge, pushing it slightly upward from the screen (it’s now flush with the display) to help stretch the film further when the phone opens.”
Samsung is still keeping the new release date of the phone under wraps but, according to Bloomberg, the company will soon start shipping major components for the Galaxy Fold to a main plant in Vietnam for assembly. Despite the fact that the date hasn’t been announced, people in the industry are convinced the smartphone will still be released before Christmas.
While all of this has been going on, Huawei announced that its own folding smartphone, the Mate X, will be released in September 2019.
