Dubai: Pre-orders for the Samsung Fold — the highly anticipated and equally heavily scrutinised smartphone with the folding screen — began on Sunday, the company announced. The Fold will be available at Dh7,199.
The Android phone grabbed attention for its ability to open and close like a book when it was first announced in February. It has a 7.3-inch screen when opened and 4.6-inch screen on closing.
Originally set to launch in China in April, the Fold received early praise for its innovative design but was also criticised for its high failure rate. In the run-up to its original launch date, several reviews showed the screen beginning to warp or crack after only a few days of use. Samsung cancelled the launch, saying it would address the problem.
The global launch was rescheduling for September 9.
Over the past week, new reviews have appeared with many reviewers, in an attempt to see if Samsung has successfully fixed the issue, going to extreme lengths to see if they could break the phone. One video making the rounds on social media showed the phone being forcefully opened and then slammed shut over 120,000 times before the phone began to break.
The video is being taken by many as a vindication of the Fold, with many saying the brutal test was worse than what the average users would put the phone through. A similar Samsung test, albeit with less force, showed the smartphone being opened and closed 200,000 times before it began to fail.
