More than two months after it delayed the Galaxy Fold, Samsung has reportedly completed its redesign of the foldable smartphone.
Samsung is in the "final stages" of putting together the commercial version of the Galaxy Fold and will begin shipping the major components to a plant in Vietnam for assembly. That's according to Bloomberg, which added that while the Galaxy Fold redesign may be complete, a launch date hasn't been pinned down. An announcement at the Galaxy Note 10 event on August 7th is said to be unlikely.
As for what changes the redesign includes, Samsung has made the protective layer on top of the screen larger, stretching it so that it covers the entire display and goes into the outer bezels so that it's impossible to peel off. One of the issues that the Galaxy Fold had when it broke in reviewers' hands is that the protective layer of the display looked like a screen protector, and so some people peeled it off.
Samsung has also reportedly re-engineered the Galaxy Fold's hinge, pushing it upward from the screen so that it's flush with the display. This will help stretch the protective layer further when the film is opened and making it feel harder and more like a part of the device rather than a detachable accessory.
One other improvement to the Galaxy Fold is that the re-engineered hinge could also help reduce the chance of a crease developing in the middle of the screen, says today's report.
Many phones come out of the box with a protective film on the screen that most people remove when they begin using the device. Because of that, it's easy to think that at least some consumers who bought an original Galaxy Fold would've peeled off its protective layer and damaged their $1,980 phone's screen. Now it sounds like Samsung has improved the protective layer so that it's impossible to remove, which is a good change. It probably wouldn't hurt for Samsung to also make it more clear what this protective layer is so that buyers are educated about their new device, too.