Galaxy S III Reportedly Gets Delayed

Galaxy S III, the latest flagship Android handset from South Korean phone maker Samsung, might have been delayed from the original launch date of May 29th, recent reports suggest.

The push back reportedly affects the Pebble Blue flavor of the smartphone, and has been caused by a delay in shipments from the supplier. Galaxy S III was made available for pre-order in various markets around the world a few weeks back, and some of those who reserved the blue flavor report that they had already been informed that the handset would arrive later than expected. Rumor has it that a set of pebble blue battery covers of the high-end smartphone were defective, and that Samsung had to destroy them. If so, it does not come as a surprise that the release was affected, yet the handset vendor hasn’t provided an official statement on the matter so far.

It’s yet uncertain whether the delay will affect all markets, but a Scandinavian user told Reddit that he did receive an email announcing the push back. Apparently, the supplier put all Galaxy S III shipments in Scandinavia on hold, without offering a new launch date for the handset. Here’s what the said email reportedly reads:

"Dear customer, Thank you ordered a Samsung Galaxy S III Blue Pebble of us. We are sorry to announce that we will not deliver it on release date, which is on 29/5. This is because the supplier has suddenly stopped all deliveries of the blue mobile.

This applies to all retailers and operators in Scandinavia, and is not something that only affects CDON.COM . We have tried to maintain a dialogue with the Samsung, but without success. Samsung says that the preliminary shipping date is week 22, but this is unfortunately not something that we are yet to confirm.

CDON.COM will compensate all affected customers by sending out a free coupon for the license to Samsung Navigator (value of 599 €). We would again like to emphasize that there are some blue models to Scandinavia before the release, nor any dealer or any operator. We apologize for the inconvenience. Sincerely CDON.CO"

While this message is a confirmation of the possible push back of Galaxy S III in Scandinavia, it appears that other markets might be affected as well. According to Phandroid, online retailer Negri Electronics announced them that their supplier hadn’t shipped the promised international Galaxy S III units so far, and that the initial launch date might be missed. Reportedly, the retailer announced that the Blue version of the phone was expected to hit shelves before the White version, which should have landed on June 1st, but no new release date was provided. Negri Electronics reportedly said the following:

"To many, being first is a necessity. To us, it is a requirement. While we do not have great news for our customers, we still anticipate to be the first to carry the Galaxy S III, but the date has been set to the 29th.

Our supplier originally gave us a firm date of arrival for the 25th, but has failed to follow through with the promise- putting us in a compromising position with our reputation and name. We anticipate having the Blue, 16GB Galaxy S III before the White. At this time we are not trying to assume a delay from Samsung; but the White is expected to arrive June 1st."

The international version of Galaxy S III was set to hit shelves on May 29th -30th in many countries around the world, while being followed by a LTE-enabled flavor in June, for markets such as the US, South Korea, Japan and more.

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