Samsung Galaxy Fold launch delayed in China

Despite the hype and excitement surrounding the first batch of foldable smartphones, the image of the Samsung Galaxy Fold has been tarnished before the device has even launched. There have been numerous reports of serious problems with handsets sent out for review, and now Samsung has delayed the launch of the phone in China.

Two launch events were due to be held this week on Tuesday and Wednesday for the $2,000 phone, but these have been postponed. For now, it is just the Chinese launch events that are affected, and it is not clear if Samsung will also delay launch events in other countries.

See also:

• See the Samsung Galaxy Fold hinge in action in an official stress-test video
• Battle of the foldable phones: Samsung Galaxy Fold vs Huawei Mate X
• Huawei's Mate X is a seriously impressive folding 5G smartphone... but you'd hope so for $2,600!

Officially, Samsung is blaming the postponement on last-minute issues with the venue that was to be used for the launch events, but given the criticism of the handset based on reviewers' experiences, it would be easy to jump to the conclusion that there is something else going on.

There have been several reports of problems with the screen of the Galaxy Fold, with early testers of the handset complaining of a series of display issues. In some instances, the reviewers had removed a protective layer from the screen, but problems have been reported even by those who have not removed this film -- ranging from flickering and non-functioning screens, to bulging hinges.

Now, as reported by both SamMobile and Engadget China, Samsung has delayed the launch events that had been scheduled to be held in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Engadget China's editor-in-chief Richard Lai tweeted:

Samsung Galaxy Fold launch events in Hong Kong and Shanghai have been postponed. They were originally scheduled for this Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

— Richard Lai (@richardlai) April 21, 2019

While no reason was given to Engadget by the Samsung representative, National Business Daily reports Samsung China is pinning the blame on the venue rather than any other cause.