With Huawei’s time in the wilderness possibly over, it’s time to turn our attention back to 2019’s first major tech story – the continuing saga of Samsung’s Galaxy Fold, the company’s first folding phone. Featuring one of the first consumer-oriented flexible displays, the Galaxy Fold presents as an object from the future, but spectacularly failed to launch earlier this year after numerous issues were encountered by overseas reviewers.
Ausdroid hasn’t actually seen a Galaxy Fold in person, other than sitting behind glass at MWC. You’ll have to bear with us.
Samsung’s taken its licks and spent time looking at the issues presented, and is ready to do the dance again, with Bloomberg reporting that the company has made a couple of key changes to the device that should address concerns from earlier in the year.
Firstly, the protective film that was mistaken for a screen protector by many reviewers has been changed. It now covers the screen and the housing surrounding it, making it less likely to be regarded as a screen protector and harder to remove. You’d hope for a note on the finished units not to attempt to remove it, too.
Secondly, there’s been a change to the hinge mechanism. Its position has been changed slightly (Bloomberg says “it’s now flush with the display”), which apparently causes the protective film to stretch just a little further when open, further reducing its chance of being mistaken for a screen protector.
It’s said that the change in hinge position also causes it to support the fold in the screen a little better when open. This might address reports of a visible crease line in the middle of the screen.
Updated components are apparently now heading for manufacturing in Vietnam, but the relaunch date is yet unclear. It’s likely too short a time between now and August’s Unpacked event in New York – Samsung’s already felt the consequences of a rushed launch for the device once and is probably unwilling to do so again, and probably wants the Note 10 to hold centre stage at that event.
