Samsung's Galaxy Fold CNBC's Elizabeth Schulze

Samsung's Galaxy Fold has finally launched in the United States after months of delay to fix an earlier version. It's available unlocked from select Samsung and Best Buy Stores and from AT&T. The phone was supposed to be released in April, but the first version broke easily. It's tough to recommend buying the Galaxy Fold, even after Samsung made improvements to keep it from breaking. The Fold now comes with plenty of warnings telling you to treat the device gently. But luxury product or not, you should expect to be able to use a phone like a phone, and a lot of Samsung's warnings include things many people end up doing to their phones on a daily basis. In fact, one early reviewer's device has already been damaged. TechCrunch found this week that its new Galaxy Fold review unit broke after just a day, with damaged pixels under the primary folding display after what seems to be normal use. The site says its user may have pushed the screen too hard, causing damage to it. Samsung has a reminder when you turn on the Galaxy Fold that warns not to do this, which seems silly. You should be able to use normal force on any screen. CNBC has the updated Galaxy Fold, too, and it comes with a lot of paperwork and on-screen warnings that Samsung hopes will will make it harder for consumers to accidentally damage the phone. And you should pay attention, since it still seems too delicate. Here's a picture:

The new warning screen on the Samsung Galaxy Fold. Todd Haselton | CNBC

It says: "Avoid pressing hard on the screen. Tap lightly to keep it safe." It suggests keeping the phone away from magnets, getting any water or dust near it, which means even things like loose dust in your pocket could get into the hinge and cause damage, despite new protectors to help prevent that from happening as easily as before. You can't even use a screen protector. There's a new piece of plastic on the screen with warnings, too. You can peel this one off:

"Do not press the screen with a hard or sharp object, such as a pen or fingernail or apply excessive pressure," it says. I like the new warnings telling people to be gentle, but I also think you should be comfortable using a $1,980 phone without fear that normal use is going to break it. If you have problems, Samsung has a new concierge service that can help you replace the screen once for $149. After that, the rest is on you. And you might have to wait a few days for the phone to be repaired if Samsung or one of its partners can't do it same day. Samsung has made it clear in briefings with the press that you need to be super careful with the Galaxy Fold. But I have a new iPhone 11 Pro Max that costs almost $1,500 fully loaded and don't have to worry about pressing the screen too hard, dropping it in water or using it normally. It doesn't fold, so maybe it's not the future of phones, but that's a trade-off I'm willing to make for now.

Samsung's Galaxy Fold CNBC's Elizabeth Schulze