Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was one of the most anticipated smartphones this year, but the phone was marred by controversies ever since its launch. It cost Samsung about $1 billion for the Galaxy Note 7 recall in the first wave, but now the company has decided to discontinue it altogether!
Leaving the burning and exploding issues aside, the Galaxy Note 7 (RIP, Note 7!) was a great phone. It packed an Exynos 8890 octa-core chip, 4 GB RAM, 5.7” Super AMOLED QHD display, 64 GB ROM expandable to 256 GB via hybrid SIM slot, and a 3500 mAh battery.
What Happened?
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 would be remembered in the history of smartphones as a killer smartphone (which could actually takes lives).
After being announced in August 2016, the phone passed most reviews with flying colours until it started catching fire. Just a few days after its commercial launch, reports started coming about burning Galaxy Note 7 units. This made the fans crazy and led to many airlines banning the Note 7 in flights.
Samsung reacted by recalling all the affected Galaxy Note 7 units and blamed on the poor quality batteries provided by a certain supplier. The recall cost Samsung $26 billion in lost valuation, but the company re-launched the phone again with a green battery indicator (instead of white). This was done so the users and authorities could distinguish between and old and the re-launched “safe” phone. As a result, DGCA lifted the ban on Galaxy Note 7.
However, a disaster was still waiting to happen when a replaced Note 7 caught fire in a SouthWest Airlines flight 994 from Louisville to Baltimore. Nobody was hurt in the incident as the flight was evacuated, but it did hurt Samsung badly forcing it to permanently discontinue the Galaxy Note 7.
What Happens Now?
Now that the damage is done the company is taking actions to protect its goodwill and its customers.
“Taking our customer’s safety as our highest priority, we have decided to halt sales and production of the Galaxy Note 7,” said Samsung.
According to Daniel Kim, a Seoul-based analyst for investment bank Macquarie Group, the potential loss caused by the Note 7 fiasco could reach $2.8 billion for the last three months of the year.
In its home-market of Korea, Samsung is salvaging its brand loyalty by offering $27 credit to customers switching from Note 7 to other Samsung phones. We don’t know whether this strategy would work in other parts of the world as safety is a much more important concern than a getting a few dollars of discount.
Some experts are also of the opinion that Samsung should discontinue the “Galaxy Note” series as well. In my opinion, this is a bit too extreme, especially given the popularity level of the Note series smartphones.
As of now Samsung is planning to boost the production of the Galaxy S7 to cover up for the lost sales caused by the Note 7 fiasco. The company would also try to convince its Note 7 users to switch to the Galaxy S7.
On the plus side, we might expect Sammy to prepone the Galaxy S8 launch at least by a month or so. Its competitors might now turn aggressive in promoting their smartphones as ‘safe’ as to take advantage of Note 7 discontinuation and Sammy would never want that.
Source: WSJ