Samsung’s Galaxy Fold finally gets a local release date and a $3,000 price tag

Phones prices have been getting absolutely ridiculous but Samsung believes buyers will be queuing for this “category-creating” version.

Samsung’s “category-creating” foldable smartphone has finally been given an Australian release date and we now know how much we will need to shell out for the long-awaited Galaxy Fold.

The Korean tech giant’s foldable, the first of its kind to make it on to the market, will finally be available in Australia October 30 after launching in South Korea and the US earlier this year.

And the price? That will be $3000.

Samsung Electronics Australia vice-president of IT and Mobile Garry McGregor said the Galaxy Fold is unlike any other phone.

“Australians today are embracing larger screens as they consume, capture, share, and do more on the go. From the moment you pick it up and unfold it, the Galaxy Fold unlocks a completely new large-screen experience,” Mr McGregor said.

The Galaxy Fold is unlike any other smartphone we’ve seen before.

The Fold was originally supposed to come out around April, but after early devices issued to reviewers revealed a number of fatal flaws in its folding design, the device was pulled so Samsung designers and engineers could make things right.

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Since then Samsung has added another protective layer that extends beyond the bezel to make it harder to peel off (a protective layer on earlier devices was peeled off by several reviewers who didn’t know it was supposed to be left on).

The top and bottom of the hinge has also been strengthened with protective caps and the gap between the hinge and the body has been reduced to keep out dust and other debris that could get under the screen and cause all sorts of problems.

Layers of metal have been added under the flexible screen for further protection, and Samsung has also improved software and apps to optimise them for the folding design, and added E-SIM capabilities to support more than one phone number.

The Fold sports a much smaller front screen that’s useful for quick interactions.

The phone’s expandable screen real estate increases the display size from 4.6-inch to 7.3-inch when unfolded, is geared heavily towards multi-tasking and running several apps at once.

Samsung’s vice president of framework R & D group in the mobile division Sally Jeong said the Fold eliminates the need to own another device.

“Before the development of the Galaxy Fold, I had a smartphone and a tablet, but the combination of the two created an entirely new experience,” she said.

“The larger screen completely changed things like watching movies, checking email and catching up on the news, to the point that I could no longer be satisfied with a smaller screen.”

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The Galaxy Fold will launch in all 25 Samsung stores around Australia, as well as in select retail and carrier stores.

When it arrives it will be the most expensive “mainstream” phone you can buy, with its $2999 asking price coming in $500 more than the most expensive variant of Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro Max.

The Galaxy Fold was first shown off at Samsung’s Unpacked event in February, and is now finally releasing in Australia.

Samsung said it has had the technology to create a folding phone for around eight years, but waited to release one until the “market” was ready.

But when the company did go to push out its foldable earlier this year, it appears as though it was the device that wasn’t ready.

exclusive investigation reveals that... yep it does fold. pic.twitter.com/FdklQlTLd3

— [jack-gramenz] (@JackGramenz) October 22, 2019

Screens flickering and blacking out, as well as bumps and bulges appearing under the display were among the issues that caused Samsung to postpone release date and go back to the drawing board.

But now the company is confident it has a market ready device and people who have already gotten their hands on the Fold in overseas markets appear to be happy with their purchase.

Demand has been so high the company said its struggling to keep up supply and it’s suspected the Fold will become similarly rare after its local launch.

Those who previously registered their interest will be contacted in the coming week with further information on how they can get a Galaxy Fold of their own, while the rest will have to try their luck in stores on Wednesday next week.

Will you be scrambling to get your hands on the foldable future of smartphones? Let us know in the comments below.