Although Samsung may like to think they managed to bring a folding smartphone to market in the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the reality is not quite there yet. After pre-release review units revealed some major problems earlier this year causing Samsung to scratch delivery of intial orders, the manufacturer has been trying to figure out how to get the program back on track. Now, a long-simmering dispute between South Korea and Japan has created yet another challenge for Samsung.
Going back to disputes rooted in World War II, the South Korean Supreme Court ruled last year that a Japanese company had to pay reparations for Korean men forced into slave laborer during the war. Japan has not taken kindly to this and recently implemented a ban list of exports to South Korea. The bad news for Samsung is that flourine polyimide is on that list.
If you are wondering how a ban on flourine polyimide impacts Samsung, it is due to the “screen protector” that ships on the Galaxy Fold. As you may recall, that screen protector was problematic in itself as several people who got review units tore it off thinking it was a temporary protector supplied for the shipping process. It is actually meant to be a permanent part of the Galaxy Fold, providing some additional protection for the folding display.
With the Japanese ban in place, Samsung may look to other potential suppliers. One of those is a South Korean company called Kolon that provides the flexible covers for the Royale FlexPai and is working with Motorola on a flexible RAZR device. However, it is unclear whether Kolon could handle the volume Samsung is looking for, estimated to be on the order of 1 million units for the first run.