Samsung's Galaxy Fold: A Product with Great Promise but Poor Launch

The Samsung Galaxy Fold was one of the first smartphones to feature a foldable display, and its announcement generated a lot of excitement among tech enthusiasts. However, concerns were raised following its initial reveal, as Samsung didn't allow anyone to demo the product for themselves, and the Fold was featured very briefly on stage. This led many people to believe that Samsung had something to hide about the product or that it hadn't yet been fully developed.

Despite these concerns, I don't believe the Galaxy Fold is a failed product. It hasn't even gone on sale yet, so no one knows what kind of commercial success it will have. However, I do believe Samsung completely failed at launching the product successfully. One reason for this is that the Galaxy Fold's introduction left a lot to be desired. This wasn't entirely due to Samsung's fault, as the company was following in the footsteps of Apple, which also introduced its iPhone in a similar way.

However, Apple's situation was different from Samsung's. When Apple introduced the iPhone three months earlier than they wanted, it was due to the process of receiving FCC approval. The company didn't have the luxury of delaying the release to iron out software bugs or other issues. In contrast, Samsung had ample time to prepare for the launch of the Galaxy Fold.

That being said, it's not unusual for companies to announce products before they're fully developed. This was clearly the case with Samsung's Galaxy Fold. The company sent out media units to be reviewed by various news outlets, blogs, and YouTubers as a way to drum up hype and gain attention before the product's release.

At first, things appeared to be going smoothly. Reviewers wrote articles and posted videos about the product and their initial reactions. However, just two days later, several reviewer units began to malfunction. Steve Kovach of CNBC, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, Marques Brownlee, and Dieter Bohn of The Verge all had their Galaxy Fold units break after just a day or two of testing.

Kovach posted a video to Twitter that showed the left display panel flickering, while Gurman posted photos that showed a large blacked-out portion of the display that didn't function at all. Brownlee's entire display blacked out, and Bohn had a bulge appear on the seam of his screen which caused the OLED panel to break.

If you're Samsung, this is one of the worst-case scenarios to be in. The company has spent years developing foldable display technology and integrating it into a mass-production consumer device. They drummed up attention for the product by demoing it on stage, announcing a release date of April 26th, and deploying a media campaign by sending out units for people to test.

However, just ten days before the Galaxy Fold was scheduled to go on sale, multiple reviewers experienced serious problems with their units. This caused thousands of customers to cancel their Galaxy Fold preorders and vindicated critics who were suspicious of the product all along. To make matters even worse, this was happening to a company that already suffered a PR nightmare just a few years ago after a worldwide recall of its Galaxy Note 7 due to exploding batteries.

Samsung is the only company to have a device banned from airplanes by the US Department of Transportation. You can imagine how Samsung must have felt after hearing about its Galaxy Fold suffering from serious malfunctions. They quickly issued a public statement, saying, "A limited number of early Galaxy Fold samples were provided to media for review. We have received a few reports regarding the main display on the samples provided. We will thoroughly inspect these units in person to determine the cause of the matter."

However, what's striking about Samsung's response is that they managed to put most of the blame on reviewers rather than being honest about their own product's faults. Notice how they framed the situation by avoiding any negative terminology until it could be associated with the reviewers. Samsung said they would "determine the cause of the matter," rather than figuring out why their smartphone broke after just two days of use.

Then, immediately after that sentence, they turned it around on the reviewers by saying, "Removing the protective layer or adding adhesives to the main display may cause damage." This is a clear attempt to deflect responsibility and avoid taking ownership of the product's flaws. By doing so, Samsung avoids any negative implications and maintains a positive image, even if it means misleading their customers.

In conclusion, while the Samsung Galaxy Fold has great promise as a foldable smartphone, its launch was marred by poor execution and a lack of transparency from the company. It remains to be seen whether the product will improve over time or if Samsung will continue to prioritize profits over customer satisfaction.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enSamsung’s Galaxy Fold was one of the firstsmartphones to feature a foldable display.It was revealed to the public back in February,and there was a lot of excitement surroundingthe product since it featured a dramaticallydifferent form factor when compared to traditionalsmartphones.But concerns were raised following its announcementsince Samsung didn’t let anyone demo theproduct for themselves, and the Fold was featuredvery briefly, receiving just three minutesand twenty seconds of stage time.This led many people to believe Samsung hadsomething to hide about the product, or thatit hadn’t yet been fully developed.Which was concerning considering its was supposedto launch just two months later at a priceof two thousand dollars.So did customers have anything to worry about?Or were suspicious about the Galaxy Fold anoverreaction?Well, that’s exactly what we’re goingto find out.This is Greg with Apple Explained, and I wantto thank Backblaze for sponsoring this video.If you want to help decide which topics Icover, make sure you’re subscribed and thesevoting polls will show up in your mobile activityfeed.Now I want to begin by clarifying that I don’tbelieve the Galaxy Fold is a failed product.I mean, it hasn’t even gone on sale yet,so no one knows what kind of commercial successit’ll have.But I do believe Samsung completely failedat launching the product successfully, andhere’s why.I already mentioned that the Galaxy Fold’sintroduction left a lot to be desired, butI didn’t fault Samsung for that.After all, the original iPhone was introducedin a similar way.No one was allowed to demo it after the keynote,and the product was very much still in development.That’s why Steve Jobs had to flip througha booklet guiding him through the iPhone’sstage demo.It was called the “golden path,” and deviatingfrom it would reveal software bugs that theengineering team hadn’t yet ironed out.But you have to consider that Apple was forcedto introduce the iPhone three months earlierthan they wanted due to the process of receivingFCC approval.If Apple didn’t introduce the iPhone threemonths early, the FCC would’ve revealedthe product for them.But all things considered, it isn’t unusualfor companies to announce products beforethey’re fully developed.And that was clearly the case with Samsung’sGalaxy Fold.But if that wasn’t the problem, then whatwas?Well, it all started when Samsung sent outmedia units to be reviewed by various newsoutlets, blogs, and youtubers as a way todrum up hype and gain attention before theproducts release.And at first things appeared to be going smoothly,with reviewers writing articles and postingvideos about the product and their initialreactions, but just two days later severalreview units began to malfunction.And that’s when things went south.Steve Kovach of CNBC, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg,Marques Brownlee, and Dieter Bohn of The Vergeall had their Galaxy Fold units break afterjust a day or two of testing.So let’s take a look at what exactly happenedto each of these devices.Kovach posted this video to Twitter whichshows the left display panel flickering, Gurmanposted these photos which showed a large blacked-outportion of the display that didn’t functionat all and got progressively worse.Brownlee had his entire display black out,and Bohn had a bulge appear on the seam ofhis screen which caused the OLED panel tobreak.Now if you’re Samsung, this is one of theworst case scenarios to be in.They’ve spent years developing foldabledisplay technology and integrating it intoa mass-production consumer device.They drummed up attention for the productby demoing it on stage, announcing a releasedate of April 26th, and deploying a mediacampaign by sending out units for people totest.But just ten days before the Galaxy Fold wasscheduled to go on sale, multiple reviewersexperienced serious problems with their units.Which caused thousands of customers to canceltheir Galaxy Fold preorders and vindicatedcritics who were suspicious of the productall along.And to make matters even worse, this was allhappening to a company who already suffereda PR nightmare just a few years ago aftera worldwide recall of their Galaxy Note 7due to exploding batteries.And although every tech company has had theirshare of faulty products, Samsung is the onlycompany to have a device banned from airplanesby the US Department of Transportation.So you can imagine how Samsung must’ve feltafter hearing about its Galaxy Fold sufferingfrom serious malfunctions.They quickly issued a public statement, saying,“A limited number of early Galaxy Fold sampleswere provided to media for review.We have received a few reports regarding themain display on the samples provided.We will thoroughly inspect these units inperson to determine the cause of the matter.Separately, a few reviewers reported havingremoved the top layer of the display causingdamage to the screen.The main display on the Galaxy Fold featuresa top protective layer, which is part of thedisplay structure designed to protect thescreen from unintended scratches.Removing the protective layer or adding adhesivesto the main display may cause damage.We will ensure this information is clearlydelivered to our customers.”Now that was the full statement and I wantto break down it down piece by piece, becauseSamsung actually managed to put most of theblame on reviewers rather than being honestabout their own products faults.Notice how they framed the situation by avoidingany negative terminology until it could beassociated with the reviewers.Samsung said they would “determine the causeof the matter,” rather than figuring outwhy their smartphone broke after just twodays of use.Then immediately after that sentence, theyturn it around on the reviewers by saying,\"a few reviewers reported having removed thetop layer of the display causing damage tothe screen.”Which makes it sound like the reviewers didsomething wrong to cause the Galaxy Fold tobreak, but this isn’t entirely true.Because two of the broken units still hadtheir protective top layer intact.Not to mention the top layer of one reviewunit began to peel off on its own after justdays of use.So if Samsung had issued a fair and honeststatement, it would have read something like,“Our engineering team completely overlookeda flaw in the Galaxy Fold’s main display.We will investigate the damaged units in personto ensure the cause of these problems areidentified and solved.Samsung customers expect us to deliver world-classhardware and we will not release the GalaxyFold until it lives up to that standard.”But instead, they differed blame and threwtheir reviewers under the bus in a very dishonestway.And if that weren’t enough, Samsung requestedthat iFixit remove its teardown of the GalaxyFold after they suspected the device providedinsufficient protection from debris damagingthe screen.iFixit wasn’t under any legal obligationto remove the teardown, but they did so outof courtesy to Samsung.And what bothers me most about this situationis that if iFixit could tell the display wasn’tadequately protected from debris, why couldn’tSamsung identify this problem themselves whilethe product was in development?Now eventually Samsung announced that theGalaxy Fold would be indefinitely delayedand all media units had to be returned.This began a period of speculation that continuestoday.Will Samsung be able to solve the Fold’sserious problems?If so, how long would it take?Well, there have been no official statementsfrom the company itself, but according toa recent report from Yonhap News Agency, Samsunghas apparently fixed both issues with thedevice.First, the protective top layer of film willbe tucked underneath the display bezels, thatway users won’t be tempted to peel it off.Second, the hinge mechanism has been redesignedwith smaller openings to prevent debris fromfalling inside and getting wedged behind thedisplay.And while these solutions may help, I’mnot sure that they’re foolproof.It sounds very similar to Apple’s butterflykeyboard solution.In order to prevent debris from entering thekey, a protective silicon membrane was added.Which didn’t actually eliminate key failurebut rather delayed it.And considering Samsung has only been workingon these fixes for about three weeks, it’shard to believe they’ve implemented realfixes rather than applied a couple bandaids.But one thing appears certain, Samsung isdefinitely going to release the Galaxy Foldit’s just a matter of when.And if this alleged leaked AT&T email is tobe believed, the Fold could be released assoon as June 13th.Now like I said earlier in the video, I don’tthink the Galaxy Fold will be a failed product.I think it’s pioneering some important technologythat’ll begin a new era for smartphones.But that technology is still in its earlystages of development, and the Galaxy Foldis clear evidence of this.Even if its main display performed flawlessly,the device has some serious compromises.It’s heavy, thick, and awkward to use asa smartphone.The front display is small with comicallylarge bezels, and the main display has anunsightly seam that’s even less enjoyableto touch.Reviewers have noted jelly scrolling, whereone side of the display lags behind the other,and even color temperature differences betweenthe display’s left and right side.And I think all of this reveals Samsungs biggestflaw as a company, and that is their obsessionwith being first to market, even if it meansreleasing an unpolished product.They clearly fell victim to this with theGalaxy Fold, but also with the Galaxy Gearsmartwatch in 2013.Samsung knew Apple was working on a smartwatch,and they wanted to beat them to market.The problem was the first generation GalaxyGear watch was an objectively awful product.Receiving poor critical reception and achievingvery little sales success.With 30% of Best Buy customers eventuallyreturning it.And all that could have been prevented ifSamsung had just spent a couple more yearsdeveloping the Galaxy Gear’s technology,that way they would’ve ended up with a muchhigher quality product.Now that may not be the case with their GalaxyFold, but things are certainly off to a rockystart.Now if you’re part of the 25% of computerusers who don’t back up your data, I needto introduce you to Backblaze.It backs up all of your computers data tothe cloud automatically without even thinkingabout it.You don’t need any external hard drivesand you don’t have to set up time machine,you literally install the application andnever worry about losing your data again.I cannot explain how simple and convenientthis is.There’s no limits to the amount of datayou can backup, no limits to type of data,you just set it and forget it.And when you need to retrieve that data fromthe cloud you can access it from the web orfrom their mobile app.But what sets Backblaze apart is that youcan actually request your data by mail.Not email, like actual snail mail.They use Fedex overnight to quickly send youa flash drive or hard drive with all yourdata on it in case you have no way to accessthe cloud.And you can even return the hard drive toget a full refund, which is a huge advantageof using Backblaze.So go to backblaze.com/appleexplained andreceive a fully featured 15-day no-risk freetrial.Go there, play with it, and start backingup your data to prevent big headaches in thefuture!Start today!Alright guys thanks for watching and I’llsee you next time.\n"