It seems Halloween came early for Samsung this year. The company has been extremely cautious with its upcoming products including Galaxy S8’s launch, which was delayed by almost two weeks due to the Note 7 fiasco.
Samsung has been under tremendous pressure due to the Note 7 debacle, losing billions of dollars in replacing 2.5 million phablets. With two recalls and finally discontinuation of the phablet, the issue went so far that customers who bought the faulty device even after the recall started filing lawsuits against the South Korean company.
Engineers still can’t point their fingers to the exact cause of the explosions of Note 7 and are still investigating the problem. According to WSJ, a laboratory report suggested that problem was with the batteries supplied by Samsung SDI Co., while phablets with batteries from other suppliers didn’t show the same problem. Without considering further investigations, the company unluckily decided to make a recall on these findings, installing batteries form other suppliers which evidently backfired. It faced pressures from customers and regulators and finally killed the product, even the Note series had gotten Samsung huge success in the past.
Samsung cannot afford further headlines of explosions and faulty products, as its image has already been damaged. This is why the tech company’s executives have decided to postpone the development of the Galaxy S8 by at least two weeks. During this time, engineers will be working on finding the root cause of the Note 7 explosions. The CPSC has not been happy with the company’s decisions regarding Note 7, however, they did make an agreement to a joint recall. Mr. Koh's letter to the mobile division said that the September debacle was one of the toughest challenges the company had ever faced.
According to reports, this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona might not consist of Samsung showcasing its Galaxy S8. Samsung is seeking to get its credibility back and erase this incident for good. The tech company cannot afford more recalls, and it is attempting to gain its customers' trust back by giving a 50% discount on Galaxy S8 to Note 7 owners once it is up for sale.
