SEOUL— Samsung Electronics Co. abruptly canceled two prelaunch events for its new Galaxy Fold smartphone in Hong Kong and mainland China, following a product headache that began with tech reviewers reporting their test devices had malfunctioned.
Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker, scrapped prerelease media events planned for Hong Kong on Tuesday and Shanghai on Wednesday, a company spokeswoman said, adding the journalist briefings would be rescheduled at a later date. Despite the reported issues with some test devices, Samsung has pledged to stick with its plan for Galaxy Fold phones to hit shelves Friday in the U.S.
The South Korean technology giant didn’t specify why the two media briefings had been aborted.
But Samsung has had waves of bad press after tech reviewers last week started publicizing problems with their company-provided units of the Galaxy Fold device, which costs about $2,000 and boasts a tablet-sized display that folds in half like a book.
Some reviewers had unknowingly ripped off part of the phone’s display, believing it to be a protective cover. Others had problems with hinges or flickering screens. Multiple outlets reported they didn’t have any issues with their Galaxy Fold handsets.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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