The Galaxy Fold is the most impressive mobile device that’s as real as it can be, yet remains unobtainable. This is something that prospective buyers have to think about every time the Fold makes it in the headlines, and it must be frustrating. Gadget enthusiasts are looking forward to its release, and some reviewers who have had first-hand experience with the device are completely sold on it and are eagerly waiting for its arrival. (SamMobile founder Danny is growing more impatient by the day).
The good news is that competition is still lagging behind. But it doesn't do much for Samsung's image
One of the reasons why the Galaxy Fold is still a hot desirable item for some people is because there’s still no replacement for it on the market. Attempts from other companies to create a foldable device have been quite underwhelming. The Royole FlexPai – which technically beat Samsung’s Fold to the market – seems years away from Samsung's creation. It looks more like an unfinished experiment, featuring an off-putting piece of rubber around a large hinge that sometimes squeaks whenever you fold or unfold it.
On the other hand, it turned out that the Huawei Mate X hasn't been as big of a threat as the industry thought initially. The phone is still not available for purchase but could launch in the coming months (after its fair share of delays), and once it does hit the shelves, I feel like its design won't help it much against Samsung's device. The outer foldable screen design just isn't as good and convenient. In other words, the Galaxy Fold still doesn’t have a strong competitor worth buying, and this is great news for Samsung.
But even if the Galaxy Fold is safe for now, I feel like it still represents one of Samsung’s biggest missed opportunities yet. I’m not talking about the device itself – which I think is an amazing concept – but rather the way it was introduced to the world and how it failed to create ripples throughout the industry due to the delay and uncertainties that followed.
Perhaps Samsung would have been better off not to engage in a race against lesser companies to be the first on the market with a foldable device. After all, it has a lot more to lose than Royole (or Huawei) does, and I think it could’ve won a lot bigger too; if the timing would’ve been right.
A bit of history: chapter ‘Apple iPhone'
For a bit of context, let’s all dig into our memory – at least those of us who are old enough to do so – and travel back in time 12 years ago at the moment when Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone as “an iPod, a phone, and an internet communicator.” It wasn’t the first smartphone with a touchscreen – ask LG Prada owners about that – and whether the device was good or not for its time is irrelevant at this point. What is relevant is that the unveiling will remain in the history books as one of the most powerful moments in the mobile industry.
The original iPhone was not even a close-guarded secret at the time it was revealed, yet Apple still managed to make a massive impact with its announcement. Why? Because Apple seemed to be in control of its actions, and it knew how to unveil the phone at the right time. Some people thought that the smartphone – as presented by Apple – was the future, while others thought it would fail because it lacked physical buttons. That didn’t matter either. The vision that Steve Jobs had was coherently shared with the world, and more than enough people hopped on the bandwagon.
I think that Samsung missed its one true Apple moment, and it’s a shame
We haven’t had a true Apple moment in the mobile industry for quite some time, and what bothers me about the Galaxy Fold – which is both a phone and a tablet – is that Samsung failed to capitalize on what could have been the greatest debut since the original iPhone. The kind of key moment that sees a company's shares skyrocket. Or the kind of revelation that got people talking about electric cars because Elon Musk was confident enough in his plans and designs.
Now, granted, the Galaxy Fold wasn't supposed to outright replace our current form factor as the “chocolate bar” smartphone did 12 years ago. It was never presented by Samsung as an immediate replacement for the smartphone, but rather a solid launchpad aimed at this higher goal. And it might still play its role in this regard, given the lack of competition, but let's also not forget that Samsung has a tendency to flip-flop around its design decisions from one Galaxy generation to another, betraying a sense of uncertainty, or lack of futureproof vision. And if Samsung can't pull an Apple moment with a revolutionary device like the Galaxy Fold, then I don't know what it would need to achieve this.
This is why I feel like the Galaxy Fold is a missed opportunity. Nothing more groundbreaking than the foldable phone will probably be unveiled for the next 5-10 years. And I fear that a lot of excitement and that early momentum was lost when the issues surrounding the Galaxy Fold started to surface and the initial launch date was pushed back indefinitely.
We can dream about the lightning being caught in the bottle a second time, but it probably won’t happen…
To be frank, the idealist and naive in me still thinks that this so-called Apple moment could be salvaged by Samsung, but only if the redesigned Galaxy Fold would be miles different from the review unit; to the extent that it could easily be called a Galaxy Fold version 1.5 or 2.0. Something that would deserve another official announcement on the big stage.
But as far as the realist in me is concerned, chances of this happening are close to none, no matter how much I try to lie to myself that Samsung’s silent attitude towards the Galaxy Fold might have something to do with an epic redesign. Realistically, Samsung’s current attitude probably has more to do with wanting to avoid making launch promises it cannot keep. Maybe Samsung’s true shot at having an Applesque moment came and went, and there’s no way the company will be able to catch lightning in a bottle the second time around.
If nothing else, then perhaps the Galaxy Fold will become an unsung hero
So here we are, back to the present day, looking forward to the introduction of the Galaxy Note 10 without a Fold in sight, but hoping that the wait will end soon.
Instead of creating massive ripples throughout the mobile industry, it seems to me like the concept of foldable phones has just been silently introduced into the mix and will eventually become part of our lives without a fuss. No bang, no fireworks, and not an actual moment in history which we can all pinpoint with pride, as Samsung fans. Just a fuzzy period of many months of uncertainty, marring what is technically an impressive piece of hardware that will hopefully receive the attention it deserves. And if the redesigned Galaxy Fold will truly change the mobile world without benefiting from a grandiose introduction, then its merits will probably be recognized much later down the line. It could very well become one of the mobile industry's biggest unsung heroes.
