The Galaxy Fold was supposed to be one of the most exciting phones Samsung ever made, placing the Korean maker at the forefront of smartphone innovation. But the first people who got to play with the device needed only a few days to prove the phone had several critical design flaws that pose significant risks to the foldable screen’s integrity. Long story short, it was a piece of junk.
Samsung has finally fixed the main issues by redesigning the display cover and hinge positioning to prevent the screen from dying, as the company announced on Wednesday night. The Galaxy Fold is now set to be released in September ahead of the busy holiday shopping season. As great as that sounds, it looks like we now have some more bad news about Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Fold release.
Looking at test firmware for the Galaxy Fold, SamMobile discovered that Samsung is only targeting a few major mobile markets initially, including the US, UK, Germany, France, and India. The company reportedly scaled back software testing in other markets like the Netherlands and Italy.
The blog does point out that Galaxy Note 10 firmware testing is taking place across all the markets where Samsung will sell the phone. This is seen as an indication that Samsung is eying an initial release that’s much smaller than originally planned.
That said, the foldable handset was never expected to match the sales of phones like the Galaxy S10 and Note 10. Samsung aimed to sell one million Galaxy Fold units this year, but that target has undoubtedly shrunk. The Galaxy Fold costs $2,000, after all, and that’s an even more difficult pill to swallow if you’re concerned about the phone’s durability.
Also, the closer we get to 2020, the less it makes sense to buy an expensive foldable handset. That’s because Samsung and its competitors are already working on new foldable phones that will surely be unveiled early next year. Second-gen foldable devices should be a lot better than first-gen models.
Samsung’s next press event is scheduled for August 7th, although it’s unclear whether the company will make any additional announcements related to the Galaxy Fold at its big Galaxy Note 10 press conference. Samsung did say on Wednesday that it will soon share additional details regarding the phone’s launch though, so hopefully it won’t leave us hanging for much longer.
