Its highly anticipated first foldable smartphone was scheduled to hit shelves on Friday in the United States,... but Samsung Electronics has announced it will delay the launch.
The company says the new release date will be made public in the coming weeks.
Kim Hyo-sun reports.
Samsung Electronics is delaying the public rollout of its first foldable smartphone amid controversies over screen defects.
The smartphone maker made the announcement on its website Monday without providing a new release date of its Galaxy Fold.
It explained it will run further internal tests and announce the release date in the coming weeks.
Samsung was initially planning to begin sales from this Friday in the U.S., next Friday in Europe and from mid-May in South Korea.
The decision follows a series of reviews by U.S. media that the Galaxy Fold, which will retail for nearly two-thousand U.S. dollars, had screen malfunctions in its test version.
The Wall Street Journal posted a mocking review of the device,... which led to widespread criticism against the media outlet for not focusing on the review itself.
Other international media outlets supported Samsung's decision saying releasing a fragile product could not only affect its brand image but also the entire foldable screen industry.
Bloomberg also explained that the incident draws parallels with Samsung's extensive recall of its Galaxy Note 7 in 2016,... following numerous reports its batteries overheated and sometimes burst into flames.
Kim Hyo-sun, Arirang News.