Samsung has reiterated that it will announce the revised release date for the Galaxy Fold in a few weeks, after it was left with no choice but to delay the handset earlier this month. This is the second time the firm has stressed that it will cast a new launch date into the wild in the near future — first in the statement it issued when it postponed the handset, and now in its latest earnings call.
To us, that sounds like Samsung is confident it has identified the source of the issue(s) that resulted in a number of reviewers running into a roadblock while using the Galaxy Fold. More often than not, that was because they toyed with the protective film affixed to the delicate 7.3-inch folding screen, thus rendering it unusable.
There’s a simple fix for that, however. All Samsung has to do is find a way to notify customers that the layer must be left in place. As it stands, there's a small notice on the cellophane film covering the unit in the box, but that's not enough. At the very minimum, there should be a pop-up notification the first time you power on the device.
What's more concerning is the small number of reports from reviewers claiming that their Galaxy Fold broke after foreign matter managed to seep into the device itself, obliterating the screen from the inside. A teardown later confirmed that there are a number of openings around the hinge that could allow debris to enter.
As we noted in our teardown coverage, that could be another somewhat simple fix. Apple had a similar issue with the keyboard on the MacBook Pro and introduced a silicone layer to act as a buffer between the inside and outside — and that's something Samsung could do with the Fold to stop debris from making its way inside.
Despite Samsung's silence, US carrier AT&T has announced that Samsung will launch the Galaxy Fold in the region on June 13. We wouldn't advise taking that as gospel, though; that could be the temporary date Samsung told the operator. But until Samsung speaks out itself, it's unconfirmed.
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