Samsung has apologised to its pre-order customers for delaying the rollout of the “alarmingly fragile” Galaxy Fold. More troublingly, the company has failed to lock in a new shipping date – not even a rough estimate.
Samsung was forced to postpone the launch of the Galaxy Fold after a raft of hardware issues were discovered by tech journalists. The alleged faults relate to a 7mm gap in the unfolded display which allows dust to enter, as well as rapid degradation of the hinge mechanism. Some journalists also inadvertently broke their review units by peeling off what they thought was a removable screen protector.
Described as “alarmingly fragile” by tear-down specialists iFixit, the reputationally-battered product has now been put on hold across the globe. In an email to US customers, Samsung confirmed that all pre-orders will be cancelled by default if the device fails to ship this month.
“If we do not hear from you and we have not shipped by May 31st, your order will be cancelled automatically,” the email reads. (Originally, the product was supposed to launch in the US on April 26.)
It’s still possible that Samsung will send out the product prior to May 31 – but we wouldn’t bank on it. Hardware testing and quality control are lengthy processes, especially if issues are discovered that then need to be fixed.
To date, Samsung hasn’t announced when the Galaxy Fold will land in Australia. Whatever the original launch date was, it’s safe to assume it has now been pushed back. We’ll bring you an update as soon as we learn more.
[Via SMH]
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