Samsung admits that the Galaxy Fold was pushed before it was fully ready; fix complete and being tested but no re-release date is shared

[D13H4RD]

Well, one can say the Galaxy Fold saga is quite the embarrassment for Samsung. Whilst not nearly as much as the fiasco that was self-igniting Note7s, the Fold's pre-launch failure was no less disconcerting. 

 

Well, as it turned out, Samsung's chief of mobile, Koh Dong-jin, in an interview with some members of the press, has come out to say that the Fold was pushed out the door before it was fully ready for prime-time and at least according to him, it was an utter embarrassment. 

Quote

At a recent meeting with The Independent and select other media outlets in Seoul, South Korea, Samsung explained how the problems happened and revealed the current status of Galaxy Fold. “It was embarrassing. I pushed it through before it was ready,” said DJ Koh. As the CEO of Samsung Electronics, Koh oversees a company that has been the world’s number one smartphone maker since 2012.

On when the Fold will be re-released, Koh did not give a date but mentioned that the fix has been applied and is currently being tested 

Quote

“I do admit I missed something on the foldable phone, but we are in the process of recovery. At the moment, more than 2,000 devices are being tested right now in all aspects. We defined all the issues. Some issues we didn’t even think about, but thanks to our reviewers, mass volume testing is ongoing.”

Quote

When asked about a release date, Koh simply said “In due course. Give us a bit more time.” Another Samsung Exec recently noted that “most” of the Galaxy Fold’s display problems have been ironed out, and that the phone is ready to hit the market, so hopefully it arrives sooner rather than later.

So perhaps it'll be out perhaps after the Galaxy Note10? Who knows... 

 

Sources

TNW

The (not-so) Independent

 

Thoughts 

Spoiler

Don't rush. I kinda get the whole thing on wanting to blow the doors open and be the first, but this kinda blew in their faces. Foldable devices present interesting and difficult challenges and I really think thay the Fold would have benefitted from a delay before it was even shown to the media. I would have expected Samsung to understand since the Note7 fiasco, but I guess that kinda flew over their heads in the mad foldable dash. 

 

[SupaKomputa]

The release it just to get ahead from the chinese.

[SupaKomputa]

another blunder after note 7.

[DrMacintosh]

"It's ready but its not ready"

 

Folding phones are a joke. 

[TrigrH]

16 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Folding phones are a joke. 

And bending ones are fine?

[mr moose]

Of course it's embarrassing,  admitting it is the only way to salvage any form of respect.

[Bananasplit_00]

56 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Of course it's embarrassing,  admitting it is the only way to salvage any form of respect.

It's nice that they at least own up to their mistake, not that it makes a 2k phone any more in my price range XD

[lewdicrous]

Premature publication is a very risky thing to do.. wtf were they expecting?

[TechyBen]

Hope they get it sorted, as in, have nice products going forwards.

 

I guess they should have had it as a concept phone, few runs/couple of units, out to publishers/reviewers etc. Just to get a feel for the "market", like some car manufacturers do with the "only 25 sports cars" runs.

 

Then call the devices back, and look at how to make millions of reliable ones. Don't push the tech beyond what it can do, else you get folding iPads when the metal cools, and you forgot the structural rigidity tests... Or the batteries failing in the Notes. XD

 

It's still a great design IMO (will need better external screens, or different folding sides/mechanisms). But it's the same as the early candybar phones/laptops/home desktops. Some were useless... now look at us!

[D13H4RD]

27 minutes ago, lewdicrous said:

Premature publication is a very risky thing to do.. wtf were they expecting?

BioWare magic....but for foldable phones

[mr moose]

27 minutes ago, TechyBen said:

Hope they get it sorted, as in, have nice products going forwards.

 

Ditto, I am looking forward to the day I can have a folding phone,  it will mean a full 5.5" screen on something I can put in a solid case and have in my front pocket.

[RoseLuck462]

Gotta give credit to Samsung for being able to completely halt and redo such expensive products, previous example being the Note 7.

[D13H4RD]

42 minutes ago, mr moose said:

Ditto, I am looking forward to the day I can have a folding phone,  it will mean a full 5.5" screen on something I can put in a solid case and have in my front pocket.

It'll be some time before that'll be fully realized. But ya gotta start somewhere. 

[mr moose]

4 minutes ago, D13H4RD said:

It'll be some time before that'll be fully realized. But ya gotta start somewhere. 

I don't usually hold my breath for much in the tech world, but given I bust phones every year and it's getting stupid, I really want something that folds smaller I can put in a stupid hard case. 

 

 

[Fnige]

We're getting there. It may be slow but We're getting there

[TVwazhere]

People take notice of a product to do something new, but people buy the first product to do that new thing right. 

[EldritchMoose]

6 hours ago, TrigrH said:

And bending ones are fine?

They're also a joke, just an old one

20 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

People take notice of a product to do something new, but people buy the first product to do that new thing right. 

In fact, a lot of the time, the first product / manufacturer to get something right will get the credit for inventing it. Both Nintendo and Apple have long histories of that occurring.

[D13H4RD]

31 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

People take notice of a product to do something new, but people buy the first product to do that new thing right. 

Unfortunately, I don’t think Samsung and Huawei got it right yet

[TVwazhere]

1 minute ago, D13H4RD said:

Unfortunately, I don’t think Samsung and Huawei got it right yet

They definitely have not. There are challenges with both designs they need to overcome before it meets the general expectations of the consumer, both in function and longevity. However I actually have confidence that they will eventually figure it out and get it selling. Not to everyone mind you, just the ones with big expectations and bigger wallets  

[Commodus]

5 hours ago, lewdicrous said:

Premature publication is a very risky thing to do.. wtf were they expecting?

This is Samsung -- if it has to choose between "first but crappy" and "later but good," it will always pick the former.  See also: Galaxy Gear.

[Doobeedoo]

I'll never understand companies that push software or hardware before it's ready. Especially when clearly it's not. It just backfires, you'd expect those on top and those making decisions tolnow better at big companies. But it seems it's not the case. 

Meant this in general, not just hardware but also software like games. 

[Princess Luna]

That is great!

 

I so look forward to not owning one either ways.

[Beskamir]

I want a tablet in my pocket so I'll probably grab one of these once the issues have been sorted out.

[mr moose]

17 hours ago, Doobeedoo said:

I'll never understand companies that push software or hardware before it's ready. Especially when clearly it's not. It just backfires, you'd expect those on top and those making decisions tolnow better at big companies. But it seems it's not the case. 

Meant this in general, not just hardware but also software like games. 

 

I can't see it costing them anything outside of a few unsalvageable $ from the actual product.   The note 7 didn't lose them sales, the keyboard issue didn't lose apple sales, nor did thee antenna issue.  The average consumer just doesn't care unless they personally get burnt, even then there is another consumer who just got burnt by someone else who is willing to take a chance.  

 

Especially now they have admitted what went wrong and have taken responsibility for it.  

 

[Doobeedoo]

2 hours ago, mr moose said:

 

I can't see it costing them anything outside of a few unsalvageable $ from the actual product.   The note 7 didn't lose them sales, the keyboard issue didn't lose apple sales, nor did thee antenna issue.  The average consumer just doesn't care unless they personally get burnt, even then there is another consumer who just got burnt by someone else who is willing to take a chance.  

 

Especially now they have admitted what went wrong and have taken responsibility for it.  

 

It's a very shitty practice though. Pushing and releasing something that clearly wasn't tested and worked on enough.