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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2's hinge survived a dust bath in a durability test
YouTuber JerryRigEverything put the $2,000 foldable phone through its paces.
2019 wasn't the year of foldables we were promised
We weren't far into this year when the trend pieces arrived. "2019 is going to be the year of the bendy phone," one read. Another declared that "2019 is shaping up to be the year of the foldable smartphone," or, at least it did before someone quietly edited it within a few hours. Hell, I'm probably guilty of this too. In our defense, that was because for a while there, it really did seem like this was the year foldable phones would become devices worth splurging on.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold, again: Hard to love, even harder to hate
The Galaxy Fold lives. I don't just mean in the vague "Samsung bounces back from a fiasco" sense, either. My Galaxy Fold, which I've been tossing around for weeks, opening and closing it like a madman, mostly works the same as it did the day I unboxed it. Had the Fold failed again the way it did earlier this year, it might have been enough to seriously derail Samsung's grand, foldable ambitions. This review would've been totally different, too. I could've gotten on my high horse and said a few things about innovation at the expense of usability, with a dash of pro-consumer indignation to spice things up a bit. It would've been a fun read. But reality can be pretty banal sometimes. Because of that, we instead have to face a more complicated truth about the Galaxy Fold: You shouldn't buy one. Not because it's expensive or because of its long-term potential for failure, although those are valid concerns. No, you shouldn't buy one because it's just not quite as thoroughly thought-out as a $2,000 phone should be. When I wrote our original review, I said that people who did splurge on one were paying for the privilege of being Samsung's guinea pig. Despite the company's thoughtful design fixes, that simply hasn't changed.
After Math: When your goose cooks
While many of us were channeling our inner jerks through a troublemaking goose avatar, companies throughout the tech industry were conducting dastardly shenanigans of their own. Here are a few of the week's highlights.
T-Mobile won't sell the Galaxy Fold
Samsung has revealed the beleaguered Galaxy Fold will finally ship this September, but you won't be able to buy it through T-Mobile. The carrier has confirmed it won't sell the foldable smartphone.
Samsung has postponed Galaxy Fold launch events in China
The $2,000 Galaxy Fold is already off to a bumpy start no thanks to some broken review units (ours is fine, by the way), and though the April 26th launch in the US remains unaffected, folks on the other side of the world aren't as lucky. Over the weekend, Samsung announced that it has postponed the press events in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which were originally scheduled for April 23rd and 24th i.e. this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
Samsung Galaxy Fold review units are already broken
Early Samsung Galaxy Fold adopters might be in for a surprise, judging by some journalists who reported some serious issues with their review units. The Verge's Dieter Bohn claimed a bulge that appeared in the crease of the display broke the screen after just a day of use and CNBC's Steve Kovach tweeted that the display on his review unit has started flickering. Update: Samsung has responded, and said it will investigate reports of broken units.
Samsung Galaxy Fold hands-on: Satisfying despite the crease
Samsung is gearing up to launch its long-teased foldable flagship and after months of hype, we're finally getting a chance to actually touch the Galaxy Fold. If you're interested in dropping the cool two grand that Samsung is asking for the Fold come April 26th, you're probably wondering what it looks like and whether it's worth the money. Well, at first glance, I can tell you that it definitely has a crease and seems quite sturdy.
Samsung's Galaxy Fold reservations begin tomorrow (updated)
There's not much new to say about the Galaxy Fold at this point. It's a phone. That folds. It's expensive. And it may or may not have a significant design flaw, depending on how you look at it. The only remaining question was: When can people lay claim to one? The answer is tomorrow. Samsung just issued a brief saying that starting tomorrow customers in the US can "reserve their spot in the private pre-order," which begins April 15th. We already knew that the Fold would go on sale in the US on April 26th, and a press release from T-Mobile, for one, confirms that's still true. In its statement, Samsung added that the Galaxy S10 5G will ship here in the states sometime in May. When we say expensive, by the way, we're talking $1,980 for the Fold. As a refresher, the device has a 4.6-inch AMOLED display on the outside, along with a flexible 7.3-inch AMOLED screen when the device is unfolded. You're also getting six cameras and Samsung's Wireless Powershare technology for wirelessly charging other devices. Not bad, but then again: This is an experimental first-generation device that not even us reviewers have gotten to play with. As for the 5G Galaxy S10, Samsung somehow still hasn't mentioned a price, which is weird given how soon it will be available. For now, think of it as a higher-spec Galaxy S10, with a larger battery and a more advanced camera setup. Keeping in mind that the S10 itself starts at $900, that should at least put us in the correct ballpark. Update: This post has been corrected to say that only the Fold will be available for pre-reservations tomorrow. The S10 will be available in May but will not be up for pre-order this week.
Samsung’s 2019 ‘Unpacked’ event by the numbers
Welp, that's 90 minutes we're never getting back. In a lackluster announcement event held in San Francisco on Wednesday, Samsung execs stumbled their way through repeated applause breaks to tell the world about the company's newest needless mobile device: the Samsung Fold -- a phone that expands into a tablet and costs more than a phone and tablet put together. The company also unveiled new additions to its Galaxy S line, some derivative wireless earbuds and a wearable fitness tracker. Sorry, Galaxy Home fans, you're going to have to wait until at least April for updates.
Samsung's foldable phone is officially the 'Galaxy Fold'
To the surprise of absolutely no one who paid attention to Samsung's hype-building for Unpacked, it had more to reveal about its foldable phone. The device is now officially known as the Galaxy Fold, and much like the prototype we saw back in November, we're looking at a 4.6-inch secondary AMOLED display on the outside, followed by a much larger 7.3-inch Infinity Flex AMOLED screen when the device is unfolded.
