Samsung Galaxy Fold to get new launch date after ‘foldgate’ controversy

Samsung Galaxy Fold was earlier scheduled to go on sale on April 26 in the US.

An attendee holds a Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy Fold mobile device during an unveiling event for the Samsung Electronics Co. Galaxy Fold mobile device in New York, U.S., on Monday, April 15, 2019. Samsung announced the phone in February and it goes on sale April 26 at the wallet-stretching price of $1,980. (Bloomberg)

Samsung's first foldable smartphone Galaxy Fold will get a new launch date soon. The foldable smartphone's launch was stalled due to issues in its screen.

According to a report by Korea Herald, Samsung's CEO Koh Dong-jin said that the company will soon announce a rescheduled plan for the launch of its Galaxy Fold smartphone in the US as soon as the screen issues are resolved.

Just two days back, the company said it cannot confirm the shipping date for its foldable device yet and apologised to its pre-order customers in the United States for the delay. Galaxy Fold was scheduled to go on sale in the US on April 26.

Prior to the sale, Samsung handed out review units of the Galaxy Fold to journalists. Within just a few day's use many reviewers reported that the main screen started to crack and some even broke. Koh said that the defect was caused by substances that entered the device. Samsung also later said that the Galaxy Fold comes with a protective layer which shouldn't be removed. However, some units broke even with the protective layer on.

Samsung had earlier said it plans to make at least 1 million Galaxy Fold handsets in the first year. The company also closed pre-orders for the Galaxy Fold earlier due to "high demand", Reuters reported.

Samsung Galaxy Fold specifications

Samsung Galaxy Fold has a 4.6-inch HD+ Super AMOLED display up front which opens up to a bigger 7.3-inch QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED screen. The foldable phone is powered by a 7nm processor paired with 12GB of RAM.

For photography, Galaxy Fold offers six cameras in total. There's a triple camera setup on the outside featuring a 16-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, 12-megapixel wide-angle camera, and 12-megapixel telephoto lens. It has two front cameras on the inside featuring a 10-megapixel and 8-megapixel RGB sensor with f/1.9 aperture.

Galaxy Fold packs a 4,380mAh battery with Wireless PowerShare technology. On the software front, it runs on Android 9 Pie out-of-the-box.