In a word: delayed.
Or worse: canceled.
To be honest, nothing is certain with the folding phones.
In this year’s CES, Huawei and Samsung showed off their respective takes on the folding phones. And as Samsung was about to release their version, defects with their Galaxy Fold came into light as early reviewers started publishing the same problem with the foldable screens. Descriptions were aplenty as to what the problems were. Bottomline though, the phone had a big problem. And because of that problem, Samsung was forced to delay the official release.
The Galaxy Fold was supposed to have been released last May 31.
Will we ever see the Galaxy Fold in the wild? I’m sure it will come out. As soon as they figure out what the problem is with the display and provide a permanent fix, Samsung will definitely open the flood gates.
As for the Huawei Mate X, BBC’s article confirms that the Mate X will be released in September this year. Although it was originally scheduled to be released this summer, Huawei decided to delay the release and wanted to be “cautious” after the problems encountered by Samsung with the Galaxy Fold.
I think it’s a smart move by Huawei. Best to be sure that a product is in tip-top shape before releasing it. A delay, I think, is much cheaper than a product recall. And considering also the company’s current predicament with the US government right now, that’s an added kink in Huawei’s plans for the Mate X.
Personally, I’d prefer that these two companies polish their respective folding phones well before even thinking about releasing it. I think today’s consumers scrutinize more the products they buy. They demand more out of a product. They demand perfection. They demand that it works perfectly right out of the box and that they not have to worry about things during its life.
And for phones that cost upwards of a thousand dollars, I think it’s only reasonable that buyers will demand the utmost quality and reliability.
So while we all wait for both phones to come out like a debutant, I’ll keep imagining how it was like to use the Nokia Communicator series back then.