Second time lucky? Samsung Galaxy Fold goes on sale from September 6
Samsung has announced that its first folding smartphone, aptly named the Galaxy Fold, will finally go on sale from September 6.
The phone, which was first revealed back in February, was due to go on sale in April. But several samples loaned to journalists for review broke almost immediately, causing Samsung to postpone putting the phone on sale.
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Five months and several design changes later, Samsung is ready to have another crack at the first new smartphone form factor in over a decade.
The Galaxy Fold goes on sale in Samsung's native South Korea first on September 6. This will be followed by the UK, France, Germany and Singapore on September 18, and the US soon after.
More specifically, Samsung said in a second press release the Fold will arrive in the US "in the coming weeks."
This release also references a new "Galaxy Fold Premier Service" for the first time. Likely intended to teach buyers how to use their phone (and prevent damaging the folding display), the service includes "tailored guidance and support over the phone at time, any day" and "an optional one-on-one onboarding session".
The phone will be offered in Cosmos Black and Space Silver, and there will be a 5G version offered in "select countries".
Addressing the delays and design changes, the company said: "During the past several months, Samsung has been refining the Galaxy Fold to ensure it delivers the best possible experience. Not only we improved the Galaxy Fold's design and construction, but also took the time to rethink the entire consumer journey."
That "consumer journey" likely involves addressing issues where reviewers tried to peel off what they thought was a removable screen protector, only to find doing so permanently crippled the folding display.
Another change Samsung has made is to prevent tiny pieces of debris getting into the hinge mechanism and working their way up to the display, as happened with one review unit after just a couple of days' use.
As you will doubtless know by now, the Galaxy Fold features a small 4.6-inch display on the outside, then folds open to reveal a 7.3-inch screen on the inside. The phone runs Android, but with all apps modified to fit both the tall-and-narrow outer screen, and the square inner screen.
