It’s been a rough ride for Samsung in the second half of 2016. After news emerged that Samsung would be pausing the production of the Note 7, newer developments kill off all hopes of the “temporary halt” ever transitioning back to full scale production.
For starters, yet another Galaxy Note 7 burned up, this time in New Zealand. The source article does not immediately mention whether this was part of the “safe” replacement batch, but seeing the phone was purchased and returned back to New Zealand carrier Spark, the device is likely to be of the safe batch based on previous Samsung directives for replacements.
Samsung was put on serious damage control with the number of reports rising every day, despite their attempted recall and safe unit replacements. Oculus even went on to disable the Galaxy Note 7 from making use of the Gear VR headset “until further notice”. This move is likely to infuriate a lot of Note 7 customers, many of who likely purchased the Note 7 and Gear VR for experiencing virtual reality. But seeing that this is a potentially hazardous situation that can cause bodily harm (particularly given VR can overheat devices), we fully support Oculus’s decision.
Of course, with all of this happening, the fate of the Note 7 was sealed even before the official announcement. There was no way the Note 7 would have regained the lost market share and reputation. So, announcing the inevitable by filing in with South Korean regulators, Samsung has permanently discontinued the production and sales for the Galaxy Note 7.
Taking our customer’s safety as our highest priority, we have decided to halt sales and production of the Galaxy Note 7
Samsung also announced that it will ask all telecom carriers and retailers to stop sales and exchanges of the device. All consumers were advised to power down and stop using the Note 7, irrespective of the “safe” status of the phone. Samsung is also sending out Note 7 “return kits”, which consist of insulated boxes and safety gloves, along with strict instructions to ship via Ground only.
The bad news does not end here though for Samsung. Samsung’s stock fell 8% in Seoul on Tuesday, which wiped out $17 Billion of Samsung Electronic’s market value. This was before the termination news was announced, and after the news, the stock dropped further in London with as much as a 9.9% slide down. The device recall is also predicted to cost the company another $17 Billion thanks to lost sales of up to 19 Million phones that the Note 7 was expected to generate during its product cycle. This figure is a significant rise from the earlier predictions of $5 Billion in missed sales and recall costs that were estimated during the first recall. Obviously, the long term costs in terms of loss of reputation and brand is not estimable at this stage.
With all of this happening, there is a very good chance that the “Note” branding would be killed off. It is sad to see the product line that was once referred to as the “King of Phablets” die such an unceremonious death.
What are your thoughts on Samsung permanently killing off the Note 7? Let us know your thoughts on the matter in the comments below!