Samsung is forced to postpone the release of its brand new folding fold smartphone because of screen-level failures
Hard blow for Samsung . The Korean giant had to resolve Monday, April 22, 2019 to postpone the release of Galaxy Fold folding smartphone for screen problems .
The launch of this device, presented as a technological feat and proposed at nearly $ 2,000 in the United States, was expected Friday. Its exit is postponed to an indefinite date.
Users “told us that the device needed improvements (…). To fully study these returns, and conduct extensive testing, we decided to postpone the launch of the Galaxy Fold, “said the world leader in smartphones, promising” measures to strengthen the screen protection. ”
Display defective
Some journalists and analysts who had received the Fold test in the United States had reported problems in recent days, including broken screens or display defective.
Without knowing if this was the cause of these concerns, it seems that some have mistakenly removed a layer of protection that resembled the usual plastic film found on new smartphones: Samsung will warn customers do not remove it.
Samsung, currently in a financially complicated way, said last week that it would inspect its Galaxy Fold but not to mention postponement.
According to Monday’s press release, the screen does appear to have some weaknesses, especially at the hinge, where “impacts” can form. The group also refers to a case where “substances found inside the device have affected the performance of the screen”.
Closed, the Fold is a classic smartphone. Open, it becomes a small tablet.
Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Creative Strategies, has had no problem in testing the Fold, she told AFP.
“Maybe some real-world tests have not been done,” she said, adding that the delay should not have a major impact on Samsung, because the Fold, given its price and the time required for systems and applications to be fully compatible, is not intended to be a bestseller.
Showcase product
But it is a product showcase for Samsung, notes his colleague Bob Enderle (Enderle Group), which on the contrary finds the blunder very worrisome, especially since Samsung would probably have spared it by giving the right information to the testers.
As a result, “the indirect impact could be important” for the company, continues Bob Enderle.
“If a showcase product fails, people no longer believe that you are making quality products. This can create huge damage, “adds the analyst, who also thinks it could be a blessing for Huawei.
In any case, this seems to give reason to some analysts, who already felt that the technology folding screens remains rudimentary and prices too high.
Samsung had introduced the device with great fanfare in San Francisco in February, taking a step ahead of rivals, Apple in particular, becoming the first major manufacturer to launch such a smartphone.
Others followed, like Huawei, one of the three market leaders, with Samsung and Apple.
The bad memory of explosive batteries
This is a new setback for Samsung, whose reputation had taken a serious blow in 2016 with the global reminder of the Galaxy Note 7 because of batteries that exploded. He must have done a humiliating planetary reminder.
A case that cost him billions of dollars and started his image, like the conviction of the heir to the empire Samsung Lee Jae-yong in a huge corruption scandal.
The group, however, seemed to be gaining ground in terms of reputation and in February, in addition to the Fold, presented the Galaxy S10 5G, the first smartphone running on the ultra-fast mobile internet.
The group expects to plunge 60% of its operating profit in the first quarter, due to the slowdown in its memory chip business, weighed down by a sluggish demand.
The global smartphone market has stalled in 2018, pushing manufacturers to embark on an innovation race to revitalise it.
