It is clear that the Galaxy Note 7 release and eventual recall has hurt Samsung. This was one of their bi-annual major smartphone releases and the whole world was watching when it was announced. Just as the whole world was watching when it was recalled. However, the general consensus is that Samsung should fairly easily get past the Galaxy Note 7. While it has and will hurt their annual financials, not to mention the level of consumer trust in their products, barring any major issues with the upcoming Galaxy S8, the smartphone market will move on.
However, that might not be the case for Samsung SDI. While being a Samsung affiliate, Samsung SDI has taken much of the blame for what happened to and with the Galaxy Note 7 and this is in spite of Samsung still not confirming that the battery was definitively, at fault. Of course, from Samsung SDI’s perspective, whether the battery was to blame seems somewhat irrespective now as the damage has already been done to the company’s reputation and according to a new report out of Reuters today, that damage is now playing havoc with Samsung SDI’s attempt to secure future business.
Understandably, manufacturers are going to be somewhat cautious when it comes to batteries provided by Samsung SDI in the aftermath of the Galaxy Note 7. However, the latest information is that some of those manufacturers who already employ Samsung SDI batteries are already raising questions about the reliability of their batteries and whether they are safe. The same SDI source who revealed the caution being shown by the manufacturers, is also said to have admitted that Samsung SDI is also asking the question of whether they could have done things differently. According to Reuters and the unnamed SDI person, “we are also asking ourselves whether we should have done it (the Note 7 battery) this way, or whether there could have been other ways“. While a second unnamed SDI person was noted stating that they thought they had done everything right with the Galaxy Note 7, although “it turned out there were some aspects we weren’t able to govern“. Further adding that the needed capacity boost for the battery in the Galaxy Note 7 “could have been disadvantageous to reliability“.
So it does seem that in spite of Samsung not fully confirming that the Samsung SDI battery was the sole cause of the Galaxy Note 7 issue, the assumption that it was the battery has not only affected the company’s market value (which is said to be down a fifth compared to before the Galaxy Note 7 recall), its operating loss, client and consumer trust, but also the company itself. Which does raise the question of whether Samsung SDI will be able to bounce back entirely from the event. Presumably, that will become clearer in due time as clients look for batteries for their future devices and whether those batteries are sourced from Samsung SDI or not.