With the launch earlier this year of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, Samsung appeared to be on a roll and, this, combined with the initial reviews of the Galaxy Note 7 appeared to prove that the South Korean giant was back on form. Fast forward two months, though, and it’s clear things haven’t exactly gone to plan. Samsung has been forced to recall the Galaxy Note 7 twice now and has even confirmed that it has officially stopped production, which for Samsung is probably the worst outcome possible.
Now, although for Samsung this isn’t the best news, for other Android manufacturers, as well as Apple, the news couldn’t be much better as it gives them all a chance of proving themselves against Samsung and taking some of their current and future customers in the process. Obviously, Apple doesn’t really need to prove itself and the fact that the iPhone doesn’t run Android means that most of Samsung’s customers will flock to other Android manufacturers. Regarding which companies will likely feel the benefits of the recall, both LG and Google are likely candidates due to their recently announced devices that directly compete with the Galaxy Note 7, specifically the LG V20 and the Google Pixel XL. With Google only just entering the smartphone market, this is perfect timing for them to push their first products and spend some money on advertising, while LG can take advantage of the situation in order to prove itself once again. Aside from these two companies, other manufacturers that are likely to take some customers from Samsung are also the likes of Huawei, and possibly Xiaomi and Oppo in the Chinese market.
In order to counteract the hot competition, Samsung is hoping that most Galaxy Note 7 users will trade in their devices for either a new Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, something that has prompted the company to boost the manufacturing of the devices to cope with the extra demand, though the loss of sales and costs of the recall are still expected to hurt the firm’s financials to the tune of $17 billion. Samsung has said that it may restart manufacturing of the device sometime in the future, but the damage to Samsung’s brand, as well as to the Note line has been done, so it would be a wise move for them to concentrate on next year’s Galaxy S8 lineup, which is rumored to launch in February, in order to avoid any future device recalls.