Galaxy Fold U.S. release date remains a mystery

Galaxy Fold preorder customers in the United States may be in for a wait.

Samsung Electronics sent an email on Monday saying the shipping date for the Galaxy Fold has not been decided, but that the company is still “making progress” on the device.

The message is a follow up to an email sent April 22 in which Samsung promised to give updates on the Fold’s release in two weeks.

The company said in the Monday email that it will send “more specific information in the coming weeks.” The email also included a button for customers to reconfirm their order. If they don’t hit the button by May 31, the order will be automatically canceled.

A customer can always cancel the order through the Samsung website.

The May 31 deadline adheres a U.S. Fair Trade Commission rule that if a company fails to deliver an ordered product within a certain period the order automatically expires.

The button in the email is permission to extend the order beyond the deadline.

Monday’s email fulfills the company’s obligations to inform customers of this fact beforehand, a Samsung spokesperson said.

Samsung originally set April 26 as the release for the Galaxy Fold in the United States. But in the previous week, four Fold test devices given to U.S. tech reviewers failed in various ways. A few days later, the company announced a delay of the sales launch.

On two of the phones, a protective layer on the screen was manually peeled off. Another had “substances inside the device that affected the display performance.”

The company is currently looking for ways to minimize exposure of the hinge and plans to attach notices advising users not to peel off the protective film.

BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr]