Samsung Galaxy Fold orders could be cancelled as release date still not announced for bendy phone

The folding phone had been touted as the device of the future – but its screen kept breaking

A model holds a Samsung Galaxy Fold smart phone to her face, during a media preview event in London (AP Photo/Kelvin Chan)

Samsung will start cancelling orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of the month unless it can finally bring it to market, it has said.

The company's bendy device – which folds out in the middle to make the screen twice as big – had been touted as the future of mobile computing when it was launched earlier this year.

But as soon as it got into the hands of reviewers, the phone started breaking. The screens on early units appeared to bulge and then stop working, along with other problems.

Samsung recalled the reviewers' versions and postponed the launch of the new phone. It has not announced when the phones will be coming back to market.

Now it says that if it is not able to confirm a shipping date before the end of the month, it will be cancelling the device.

“If we do not hear from you and we have not shipped by May 31st, your order will be cancelled automatically,” Samsung said in an email to customers who had pre-ordered the phone, which costs nearly $2,000.

It said it was unable to say when the phone would be out and apologised to those who had already committed to buying it.

If the company is still able to ship the phone by 31 May, then existing orders will go through, the company said. But it is still yet to announce a release date or even give a rough indication of whether and when the phone might return to the market.

Samsung had hoped to sell a million of the new phones, in comparison with the total 300 million it produces each year. Demand for that relatively limited run had been very high, the company said, forcing it to close pre-orders early.