Alex Webb, Columnist

Samsung Stumble Risks Killing Foldable Phones at Birth

A botched launch could see the technology go the same way as Google Glass.

April 18, 2019 at 10:52 AM UTC

Alex Webb is a correspondent for Bloomberg Quicktake. He previously covered the technology, telecoms and media industries in London, San Francisco and Munich.

A design wrinkle.
Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg

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It’s the overriding question about foldable phones: can they survive all that… folding?

The answer seems to be no. Take Samsung Electronics Co.’s new foldable handset. According to early reviews, it stopped working within just two days. That’s an ominous sign for the smartphone industry, which had been hoping the technology would provide its next growth spurt.