“We deeply regret the unsavory circumstances resulting from
disgraceful acts such as the destruction of evidence,” Samsung said in a
statement.
“We feel gravely responsible for the arrest of our officials and the
subsequent difficulties in management.”
The investigation is ongoing. And it’s one saga among many. From the
time Samsung’s leaders were first targeted in early 2017 and through
September 2019, “prosecutors raided Samsung offices with warrants 27
times, and 31 executives were indicted,” on myriad accusations, from the
accounting scandal to allegations that Samsung wrongly dissolved labor
unions, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported. In December 2019, Samsung’s
chairman of the board, Lee Sang-hoon, was sentenced to eighteen months
in prison for union sabotage.
—
ON FEBRUARY 20, 2019, Samsung senior vice president Justin Denison
emerged on stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.
He had a much-anticipated and potentially groundbreaking announcement
—ten years after the release of the first Galaxy phone.
The long-awaited and long-hyped foldable phone, unveiled as the
“Galaxy Fold,” was ready. It would cost $1,980. “The Galaxy Fold is a
device unlike any that’s come before it,” Denison proclaimed.
Almost two months later, the media got their phones to review.
“The screen on my Galaxy Fold review unit is completely broken and
unusable just two days in,” Bloomberg technology reviewer Mark Gurman
tweeted. “Hard to know if this is widespread or not.”
“My Galaxy Fold screen broke after just a day,” wrote The Verge’s
Dieter Bohn.
“Now [the Galaxy Fold] is turning into a bit of an embarrassment,
evoking memories of another botched launch: the ‘exploding’ Galaxy Note
7 smartphone,” BBC reported.
Samsung attributed some of the malfunctions to the product reviewers
peeling off a protective plastic layer adhered to the display, mistaking it for
a screen protector that seemed natural to peel off. But CNBC’s Steve
Kovach posted a video of his display flickering. He said he did “nothing” to
the phone. “Just unfolded it!”