The fanfare about folded smartphones got the mobile obsessed world excited early of the year, when giants like Samsung and Huawei teased with their respective “flip” phones. Showing off to eager visitors with prototypes and working models that had displays that bent in the middle, many awed at this remarkable innovation and were hailing it at the next evolution for smartphones.
However, the idea of a folded smartphone envisioned by the manufacturers was never a consumer initiated product. There was no dying need or pent up demand that the makers were rushing to fullfill, in fact the end results were more like wishes granted for some geeks pipe dream. Lets face it, the folded phone was never going to be the next-big-thing! Novelty at best. Samsung rushed to get their Fold out the door as fast as they could in an obvious attempt to save from blushes or FOLO from their numero uno competitor Huawei who had also indicated an imminent launch. Alas to quote Murphy’s Law, as all things that could go wrong happens when least expected or when rushed for reason other than intended, Samsung was left with an embarrassing situation, when tech journalists reviewing units of the Fold showed signs of cracking at the hinges and screens breaking. This was a shocking setback for a manufacturer who takes pride in supplying the world the best smartphone and pioneering screen quality that’s incomparable.
An immediate recall ensued, journalists were told that the units were beta models and assured final products will be much more sturdy. But the horse had left the stable, people had doubts and questions were starting to be raised. Samsung was about to launch the Fold globally in a few weeks, Malaysian press received invites for May 3rd launch which were followed up with a delay notice and eventually realising fixing the problem will take time, the top executives decided to delay the launch till further notice. We haven’t heard from Samsung Malaysia since that fateful week and reports have come out from Seoul that we can’t expect for any release anytime soon. Furthermore its rival, Huawei is entangled in a battle with the US and would be busy tackling issues that concern survival and would likely have no time to attend to the Huawei Mate X its own variant of a foldable smartphone, leaving Samsung time to address the issues more intently.
The whole episode leaves an important lesson to be learnt, that nothing is achieved in a 2 man ego race, (case in point just look across the Pacific) for giants like Samsung Huawei think of the people your users and fan before making decisions. And, for those who were holding their breath for the Fold or Mate X, you can keep your bonus and use it to pay the PTPN loan or use it for home deposit as these play toys will not be seeing daylight for some time.
Anyway, if Samsung is reading this, may we suggest with lower expectation making a cheaper Fold that embodies all the goodness the Galaxy Note has and releasing it together with the flagship in October could be a better option.
