Five months after its planned launch, the Samsung Galaxy Fold is finally here. Well, almost. After offering a broad September time frame a few months back, the electronics giant just announced that the foldable phone will be arriving in its native South Korea on September 6. Customers in the U.S. will have to wait a bit longer, with the device arriving in “coming weeks.” Ditto for France, Germany, Singapore and the U.K.
The handset will be available in both black and silver options, along with a 5G version of the handset in “select countries,” marking the third Samsung device to offer up the next-gen wireless technology.
If you follow the mobile space at all, you’re no doubt familiar with the saga. The company was targeting a spring time frame for the launch of what is ostensibly the first consumer folding phone. The future, however, didn’t arrive as quickly as Samsung was hoping. Multiple review devices returned to the company broken. After initially blaming reviewers for the problems, the company ultimately accepted responsibility and went back to the drawing board for the 7.3-inch device.
“During the past several months, Samsung has been refining the Galaxy Fold to ensure it delivers the best possible experience,” the company explains. “Not only did we improved the Galaxy Fold’s design and construction, but also took the time to rethink the entire consumer journey.”
The company’s clearly spinning this as an “opportunity,” and certainly it dodged a bullet by addressing these problems before releasing the product to consumers. Samsung has already discussed the fixes in previous announcements. The screen protector has been extended to under the bezels, so consumers don’t break the display by mistaking it for a removable laminate. Also, the gaps in the folding mechanism have been tightened, so particles can’t fall behind the screen.
The foldable starts at $2,000 and can currently be pre-ordered through Samsung’s site.