Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has been “retired”

Samsung has been feeling unwell after its promising XXL Galaxy Note 7 turned out to be an unprecedented failure for the brand.

On the 11th of October, Samsung’s share price fell by 7.02% and $5bn went up in smoke, causing one of the largest drops in the company’s history.

On Oct 9th, Samsung stopped exchanging recalled devices due to reports of replacement phones catching fire. One day later, Samsung announced the permanent cessation of production of its Galaxy Note 7. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) had specified that 92 incidents have been reported in the country thus far, of which 26 related to explosions that caused burns. Since early September, sales of the Galaxy Note 7 have been suspended because of several cases of battery explosions reported throughout the world. The CPSC recalled one million devices, urged American owners to turn off their phones and stop using them and proposed two options: either have the phone replaced or get a full refund.

It had seemed that faulty manufacturing of the lithium-ion battery was to blame. However, according to independent engineers, the explosions of Samsung's smartphone are not due to the battery itself, but to a design fault. In short, Samsung was taking a risk attempting to shrink the battery size in order to produce a smartphone as thin as possible, and this proved to be beyond the technical limits of today.

Analysts have estimated the recall could have a lasting impact on the $211 billion company’s brand image. To win back the lost ground, Samsung will have a lot to do.

Weiming Bai