Samsung is now contacting those customers who had pre-booked the Galaxy Fold device in the US, and is asking them to confirm their orders. The South Korean company’s move is inspired by the fact that it cannot confirm the shipping date for its foldable device yet. In a notice sent to those who had pre-booked the device, the company said those who were interested in getting their hands on the device could confirm before May 31, otherwise their order will automatically be cancelled on the day.
“We understand you are excited to get your hands on the category-changing Galaxy Fold and we apologize for the delay. As a reminder your pre-order guarantees your place in the queue for this innovative technology. You will not be charged until your order ships. If you don't want to wait, you may cancel your order at Samsung.com at any time before it has shipped. If we do not hear from you and we have not shipped by May 31st your order will be cancelled automatically If you do not want your order automatically cancelled on May 31st you may request that we keep your order and fulfill it later,” the company said.
Citing analysts, Reuters reported that though “the issue does not hurt Samsung’s balance sheet, the postponement damages the firm’s efforts to portray itself as an innovative first-mover.” Earlier this year, Samsung had recalled the review devices it had sent to reviewers in the US because the inner display of those devices had malfunctioned. The company later issued a statement confirming the development, saying that it plans to “announce the release date in the coming weeks.” In the meantime, the South Korean tech giant said that it would take measures to strengthen the display protection.
The statement comes soon after several reviewers in the US shared their experiences in which the inner display on their Galaxy Fold devices malfunctioned. Samsung later issued a statement saying that it would thoroughly inspect these units to determine the cause of the matter. Now in the latest statement, the company said, “While many reviewers shared with us the vast potential they see, some also showed us how the device needs further improvements that could ensure the best possible user experience.”
At least four reviewers, including The Verge’s Dieter Bohn, Steve Kovach of CNBC, YouTuber MKBHD and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman confirmed that the inner display on their unit broke or malfunctioned (though only some of them had removed the protective layer). iFixit, which is considered as one of the most reputed and informed teardown, tore down the phone and said that a gap between the screen and the edge of the Galaxy Fold leaves enough space debris to enter the phone and cause problems.
Last year, Samsung launched the Galaxy Fold for a price of $1,980, (approx Rs 1.37 lakh). The phone sports a HD+ Super AMOLED panel with a resolution of 840×1960 pixels. The display on the outside is 4.6 inches in size, and when unfolded, the device turns into a 7.3-inch tablet with a ‘Dynamic AMOLED display’ that has a resolution of 1536 x 2152 pixels. The handset runs on a “7nm processor,” which is most likely the Samsung Exynos 9820, and comes with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of UFS 3.0 storage. The handset houses a 4,380mAh battery.