The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle will come back to haunt Samsung many times in the present and many times in the future. Samsung must now rely on six-month-old devices – the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge – to carry them throughout the busy holiday season. Six months is like an eternity in the electronics world, but Samsung is lucky that the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge were so well received that renewed advertising is boosting their popularity. That and the recall of the Galaxy Note 7 are causing many to opt for one of those devices as a replacement.
There were rumors that Samsung would discontinue the ‘Note’ name or even discontinue the Galaxy Note series altogether. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed, and there will be a Galaxy Note 8 in 2017. The Note series is unlike any other smartphone, and it has dug itself a niche that no other manufacturer has yet to duplicate. Samsung’s collaboration with Wacom has created an S-Pen that can do so many things – much like using a regular stylus and drawing on paper. With all of this going for it, one has to wonder if customers will come back to the Galaxy Note series or are they forever turned off from the melting Galaxy Note 7s?
Samsung is working hard to find out what happened to the Galaxy Note 7. At first, they thought it was the battery made at their Samsung SDI plant, but that did not happen to be the case when new Galaxy Note 7s were shipped out only to have the same thing happen. This was when Samsung made the order to stop all production and distribution of the Galaxy Note 7 and recalled all devices so Samsung could properly dispose of them. Even to this day, many owners are refusing to return their Galaxy Note 7s to Samsung but instead are choosing to take a chance.
The only way that consumers will gain back confidence in Samsung is for them to come clean – they need to determine what caused the fires and have full disclosure to the public. That seems to be the position they are taking as Mr. J. K. Shin, Samsung’s co-chief executive says they will share their findings in an “open manner.” Right now the company is working to determine the cause of the failure from “every aspect of the device, such as its hardware, software and manufacturing processes.” If they can find the problem now, they can address any future problems before they occur. However, if Samsung cannot or will not disclose the problem, it leads to speculation that this could happen again.