Samsung’s employees rush for lead in folding phones; investigate issues related to Galaxy Fold

Samsung was pushing to be the first to roll out flexible phones to the masses

When Samsung showed off its folding smartphone in San Francisco, engineers back in South Korea popped bottles of bubbly to celebrate the culmination of eight years of research. Two months and an aborted commercial release later, employees are scrambling to figure out what went wrong.

Samsung Electronics Co on Tuesday scrapped what was to have been a crowning achievement, the launch of the world’s first mass-produced foldable smartphone. Instead of trumpeting its April 26 return to the forefront of global consumer electronics, the technology giant is now investigating how test versions of the $1,980 Galaxy Fold developed problems — including screen failures — after a few days of use.