Samsung's Galaxy Fold will go on sale Sept. 6 in South Korea: source

SEOUL (Reuters) – The first collapsible smartphone from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, the Galaxy Fold, will go on sale Friday in South Korea, a well-known source said on Wednesday.

The highly anticipated device of the world's largest smartphone maker was originally scheduled to hit the US market in April, but the launch was delayed due to screen defects detected in samples.

The phone will cost about 2.4 million won ($ 1,980) to South Korean buyers, told Reuters the source of one of the country's leading mobile operators, asking for anonymity because of the seriousness of the problem. The source did not provide more details.

Samsung declined to comment on Wednesday.

Samsung has promised to usher in a new era of collapsible products as part of its efforts to showcase innovation in the saturated smartphone market.

The company announced in July that it would be ready to sell the Galaxy Fold in September after making some changes, including hinge reinforcement, which early reviewers found to be problematic.

The delays cost sales to the South Korean technology giant, which could have generated a decent turnover during the summer season.

Last month, its Chinese rival Huawei Technologies Co postponed the planned launch in September of its first folding phone, its second postponement this year, as it fought a black list of US trade that threatened the giant's access from technology to American technologies such as Android.

Samsung currently offers pre-registration for Fold on its US websites.