Samsung Galaxy Note 7 : the reasons of a fiasco – The Point

The Galaxy Note 7, it is finished. For Samsung, the move is very hard : the reminder to be global, on 2 September, of the 2.5 million copies of the smartphone, large-format state of the art, had already worried the stock Exchange. But, this Tuesday, October 11, while alternative models have also caught fire, the south Korean manufacturer has thrown in the towel : it has asked its partners not to sell the device. The sanction stock market was not expect : after a decrease of 1.5 % on Monday, the shares of Samsung lost 8 % Tuesday.

” today, leaders from Samsung said : We stop everything and start again-a new productt. Even if it is radical, it is probably the best thing to do, “says Thomas Husson, analyst at Forrester, who has “no recollection” of such a fiasco in the past on this market. According to the estimates of several analysts, the bill could exceed $ 10 billion, without counting the effects in turn. “In addition to the invoice immediately, the problem will come mainly from the loss of customer confidence, which will have an impact also on the Galaxy S8 “, says Thomas Husson. The Galaxy S8, the next flagship of Samsung, could be launched before Christmas.

lithium-ion in question

For travelers, the possession of a Galaxy Note 7 has become a headache. Many airlines prohibit now this smartphone in the luggage in the hold, and strictly forbid its use or its load during the volume Of specific ads are broadcast in airports and on airplanes prior to each takeoff. In terms of image, we have seen better…

Launched in August, the Galaxy Note 7 may have been unveiled in haste, to overtake Apple and its iPhone 7 presented in September. After its launch in South Korea and the United States, and even before it is released on the shelf in France, the unit had been the subject of a recall. In case, the lithium-ion batteries, which overheated and caught fire in some situations. Dozens of cases of these “explosions” (it would be more accurate to speak of combustion) have been reported in the world, and internet users have posted online videos showing the smartphone to catch on fire, mainly during the charging.

almost all of The batteries of mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc) belongs to the family of lithium-ion batteries, and their relative instability is well known. Since it is the only technology capable of providing sufficient autonomy to small aircraft, the risk is accepted. Thus, if the Galaxy Note 7 has inherited an incident rate abnormally high, it should not be assumed to the extent that other devices are 100% reliable… besides, new rules of the Authority for transport safety in the United States (TSA) require the passenger to carry lithium ion batteries in the cabin, and not in the cargo hold, when they are not installed in equipment (spare batteries, the ” power packs “, etc). And this, in order to better detect and control a fire, the worst enemy of the plane…

0.01% of the Galaxy Note 7 involved

” On the social media, the impact has been disproportionate, and Samsung has not been able to manage its communication in order to extinguish this fire there, “judge Thomas Husson, referring to the hundreds of thousands of messages exchanged about this” boomgate “. That any serious cases reported up to today (approximately 200), affect 0.01% of the 2.5 million smartphones elapsed : trust is permanently lost. To make matters worse, this crisis comes at the worst time, while the group lives for several months a handover complicated at the top.

Some observers point out that, in the circumstances, certainly less serious, Apple had refused to make the slightest recall of products after the scandals of theantennagate (touching the side of the iPhone 4 reduced the quality of the reception) and of the bendgate (the resistance of the iPhone 6 Plus to the touch on the screen was very low). Samsung would he have been able to make the ostrich in this case, and treat discreetly the few serious incidents ? Probably not, because with a symptom as dangerous as fire, and the brand could have been responsible for the death.