Samsung Galaxy Fold officially launches in Korea, due this Friday

Samsung has finally launched the Galaxy Fold with customers in its home market of Korea set to get their hands on it first. Koreans will get the 5G variant they will only have to wait a day to get their hands on it as it will be available from Friday 6 September. Select global markets will also be able to get their hands on it shortly with the US, UK, France, Germany and Singapore among the launch markets.

Initially, the Galaxy Fold will only be available in either Cosmos Black or Space Silver color options with only certain markets also getting the 5G model. The rest will have to make do with a 4G LTE version. The device features two displays. The one that proved most problematic initially was the main 7.3-inch Infinity Flex Display which has had its protective layer extended under the edges so that it cannot easily be removed as it was when it hit reviewer hands earlier in the spring. Gaps at the top and bottom of earlier version have now also been sealed off to prevent dust and debris from getting under the panel.

The Galaxy Fold is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor matched with 12 GB of RAM, 512 GB of storage and comes with Samsung’s customized version of Android 9 Pie pre-installed. Bluetooth 5.0 is onboard as is the latest Wi-Fi 6 with batter capacity varying according to cellular connectivity. The 4G model gets a 4,380 mAh pack while, oddly, the more power hungry 5G model will have to make do with a 4,235 mAh pack. This is likely due to the larger SoC package needed to support the non-integrated 5G modem.

The Galaxy Fold is retailing from US$1,980. Availability for global markets is expected before the end of the month.