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The new, improved Galaxy Fold.
Tyler Lizenby / CNET
Tea Samsung Galaxy Fold is back. Samsung postponed the Fold's sale and went back to the drawing board to fix the flaws. Now, a new and improved Galaxy Fold will go on sale in September, starting in Korea and branching out throughout Asia and Europe before heading to the US.
I got a chance to go to the hands of the redesigned model, which Samsung says will avoid incurring the kind of damage that caused some reviewers' screens to break. (CNET's review unit never broke, but screen did sustain scratches.)
The Galaxy Fold looks like the same, but it is less likely to be in the background, and it has been removed from the screen. Part of the display's integrity – it was actually the latter, as some reviewers learned the hard way earlier this year.
Watch this:
Every way Samsung improved the Galaxy Fold
3:54
Opening and closing the Fold also feels different. Smoother, perhaps. Sturdier. I always love opening and closing the original design with my phone: The sensation of resistance as you shut the screen and felt the magnetic sides snap shut.
But now it feels more complete somehow. It's hard to say exactly, with the original Galaxy Fold so far in the rearview mirror – the last time
Here's every way the Galaxy Fold has changed.
No visible screen protector: If you peel this off, it immediately makes the Fold's screen unusable. Now, this polymer layer is beneath the plastic bezel. It's still there but you can not see it, and that's how it should be.
The magnetic closure snapping the screens together feels just as secure.
Tyler Lizenby / CNET
Screen caps at the ends of the phone: New T-shaped plastic "caps" plug-in air gaps that existed before when you fold the phone's screen – this is the slack that's created as part of the kinetic process. I tried jamming my fingernails around this part, but was not able to. That's reassuring.
Reinforced screen: The previous Galaxy Fold design had a layer of metal supporting a cushiony layer and then the top portion of the display. Samsung says this caused the screen crease that runs down the phone's center to look more prominent. Now it's reinforced the screen by adding a second layer of metal on top of that cushion. We'll see if you can reduce the temperature and pressure.
No more Astro Blue or Martian Green colors: The blue and green colors really took the place, but Samsung told us that it'll be only sell the Fold in black. It's a shame, but I'm not really surprised. Samsung might be preparing for sales as a result of waning enthusiasm, and thus keeping its production counts in check.
What screen protector? That layer is still there, but you will not see it and that's good.
Tyler Lizenby / CNET
No Galaxy Fold 5G in the US: Anyone in Korea who buys the Galaxy Fold will get the 5G version by default, but the opposite is true in the US – it's 4G only for that market. Samsung says that the 5G version will come back to the country, naturally at a higher cost than the 4G model if the two are sold side by side. That includes the UK, where the Galaxy Fold 5G will be available from EE from Sept. 18.
Stay tuned for more pictures and my hands-on video that shows you exactly what's new and different in this second coming of the Galaxy Fold. Meanwhile, read on about how Samsung's next foldable phone could be shaped like a square.
Published Sept. 5 at 4:44 am PT. Update: 7:10 am PT with video and more photos.
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