Things are not looking good for foldable smartphones as details reveal further trouble with the Samsung Galaxy Fold. The device was the talk of early 2019, but as we move into summer prospects of its market launch look bleak. Many now wonder how good of an idea foldable smartphones were in the first place.
A recent report from Tom’s Guide confirmed that AT&T has canceled its Samsung Galaxy Fold preorders and is offering customers a $100 AT&T promotional card as a consolation gift. AT&T was forced to take action after promising it would ship the Galaxy Fold by June 13.
However, the carrier does not seem to have much information on foldable’s fate, and neither does Samsung for that matter. Representatives of the manufacturer recently told CNET that it would have release updates ready “in the coming weeks.” Days later AT&T canceled its preorders, and Samsung has not made any comments about the product launch since.
There were also murmurs of a July launch for the Galaxy Fold, but those have since been refuted. A source told the Korea Herald that progress on fixing the Galaxy Fold has been stalled since April. This counteracts some unofficial details that surfaced in late-May, suggesting Samsung had figured out the cause of the Galaxy Fold malfunction and had a solution to fix the issue.
After the postponement of its original April 26 release, Samsung hoped to get issues with malfunctions of the Galaxy Fold display quickly under control. One month later, Best Buy resigned to cancel its preorders, to abide by Federal law.
The device is was also expected to sell through T-Mobile; however, the carrier never got a chance to open preorders before handsets began breaking.
Luckily, no one has been charged the $1,980 cost of the foldable device. Concerns first arose when technology reviewers who received the Galaxy Fold before its market launch reported a number of issues, including cracking and bleeding of the display, and lifting and easy removable of its protective film. Reviewers have since returned all handsets to Samsung.
