Recently, explosions of Samsung Galaxy Note7 catch people’s eyes. The batteries of phones are easily to catch fire and burn the users. Now, Samsung is recalling every phone it had sold around the world and permanently ceasing production just six weeks after it went on sale.
What does Samsung lose?
-Profits. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Friday said it expected to take a hit to its operating profit of about $3 billion over the next two quarters due to the discontinuation of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.
–Reputation. People began to worry about the quality of Samsung phones, not only the Note7 but also other types of phones. The sales of other types of Samsung phones are declined by nearly 26%.
-Market share. The competition of smartphone industry is always fierce, other brands like Apple, HTC and Huawei will share the pie of Samsung quickly since it was forced to quit.
Can Samsung stay in its leading position?
Absolutely yes. Samsung is likely to lose sales in the short-term, but it is possible for Samsung to win them back. To make a PEST analysis, for political and economic factors, Samsung Group may get support from Korea’s government since the group accounts for 22% of the total GDP of Korea. The whole Korea’s economy might be effected once the phone affair effects the Samsung Group. From social side, as a representative Korean brand in the global market, Korean citizens are volunteer to support the national brand and many foreign consumers who are into the Korean culture do so as well. Moreover, in technology part, Samsung is a global leader in Android phones and though others keep technology development, they still cannot beat Samsung to some extent.
What did others say? — About the smartphone industry
We might look back on Samsung’s battery meltdown as an inflection point in the history of the industry, when the frantic push for smartphone-makers to launch “revolutionary” new devices every year or two finally ran up against the physical limits of the form, and the lithium-ion battery in particular.
(http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2016/10/11/how_the_samsung_galaxy_note_7_s_exploding_batteries_will_change_the_smartphone.html)
This is an interesting point I found in Will Oremus’ blog and I quite agree with it. How can the makers blindly explore new tech but ignore the basic requirement for quality? As a consumer, I do not expect companies to release new smartphone that often since some functions are dispensable and sometimes we are forced to buy a new phone because of the so-called trends. I think it is time for them to consider lowering the pace of releasing new product but to focus on the quality of every phone produced.
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Reference:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/samsung-sees-3-5-trillion-won-profit-hit-over-two-quarters-from-discontinuing-galaxy-note-7-1476403566
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/samsung-galaxy-note-7-production-1.3799462
http://www.techcityng.com/top-five-mobile-brands-nigeria-201 4/
http://www.androidheadlin es.com/2014/09/samsung-face-serious-changes-lee-kun-hees-son-will-probably-take-company.html
http://gadgets.ndtv.com/mobiles/news/samsung-galaxy-note-7-explosions-reportedly-set-a-jeep-and-house-on-fire-in-the-us-1456614