Caught in the wild: Has Samsung started public testing of the Galaxy Fold?

Has Samsung started publicly testing the fixed and updated Galaxy Fold? That seems to be the case: A man riding the metro in New Delhi, India’s capital, was spotted using a Galaxy Fold, as you can see in the photo below. This photo was sent to us by one of our friends (who we cannot name) in New Delhi, and it’s actually the first time we’re seeing a Galaxy Fold being tested by a random person out on the streets (or metro, in this case).

The Galaxy Fold was a heavily guarded secret: No leaks showing us the complete device came out before Samsung officially unveiled it at its Unpacked event in February. And it’s entirely possible Samsung didn’t test the Fold in the real world at all before launching it earlier this year, which might be why a couple of basic design oversights slipped through and forced the company to delay the retail release of the device indefinitely. It’s not a mistake Samsung would want to make again, and its mobile chief did reveal recently that mass testing of more than 2,000 units of the Fold is currently ongoing.

Its appearance in India also suggests Samsung will launch the fixed Galaxy Fold in a lot more markets at the same time. Sadly, we’ll only find out for sure when Samsung is ready to divulge details on the Fold’s second coming. The company hasn’t done a great job of keeping us and prospective consumers apprised of its progress with its foldable smartphone, and the most recent rumor only tells us that Samsung is hoping to release the device sometime “during the holiday season.”