Images of Note 7 explosion reported by users [Online communities]
By Park Sae-jin
Trapped by an unforeseen series of explosions involving Galaxy Note 7, South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics is baulking at a long-cherished push to edge out US rival Apple in a battle for a dominant position in the competitive global smartphone market.
Samsung suspended global sales of its new premium smartphone Note 7 Friday, admitting explosions have been caused by defective batteries. The rare suspension of smartphone sales came only two weeks after Samsung's flagship Note 7 smartphone was unveiled. About 1.45 million Note 7s have been sold worldwide so far.
Samsung pledged a global recall, saying it would provide replacements to buyers at home and abroad regardless of the date of their purchase. Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung's mobile telecom division, said 35 cases of faulty parts have been reported worldwide.
"We decided to suspend sales by putting top priority on the safety of consumers" and replacements will be provided regardless of the date of purchase, he said, apologizing for causing inconvenience to consumers.
Ahead of Friday's announcement, Samsung already took action to control damage in Britain where pre-orders appeared to have been put on hold. Its British online store carried a simple message on its website: "Reserve is now closed. Pre-order will open from 8am tomorrow."
Many Samsung fans have expressed concern as explosion seemed to have taken place while charging.
Recalls and refurbishments have been common among global gadget makers, but it's quite rare for Samsung which conducted only one recall in 2014 in the United States and Canada to fix faulty cameras.
Compared to the 2014 recall which was caused by a minor problem, some experts speculated the latest cases of explosions could be a critical threat to Samsung's strenuous campaign to secure the solid sole status in the world's smartphone market.
Not only because the battery problem could become a physical threat to users, but it would damage the reputation of Samsung Electronics and its key battery-supplying subsidiary, Samsung SDI, as reliable brands.
Samsung SDI has already experienced a backlash with its share prices falling 8.82 percent for five days this week.
"Samsung SDI now faces the worst situation in connection with Note 7's explosion," Shinhan Investment Corp. said in a note. "This is the first time for a newly released product to be involved in six to seven cases of battery explosions in such a short period."
Samsung's Android smartphone Galaxy S enjoyed a phenomenal feedback from fans and critics after its release in 2010, helping the tech giant to increase its global market share rapidly.
Since then, Samsung's Galaxy series have been locked in cut-throat competition with Apple's iPhone series, inevitably going into a prolonged and never-ending patent war.
Almost every year, Samsung and Apple have unveiled new models back-to-back to gain the upper hand. Samsung managed to shove away Apple and become the world's largest smartphone producer last year and cemented its top position in May 2016 following its successful launching of Galaxy S7.
According to research firm Gartner, Samsung shipped 81.2 million units in the first quarter of this year and claimed a market share of 23.2 percent while Apple shipped 60 million units, gaining 14.7 percent.
Initially, Note 7 has been touted as Samsung's vested weapon to overpower Apple. Experts, however, say a global recall could drag it down before the US company unveiled its new iPhone 7 series next week.
Written by Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
Edited by Lim Chang-won = limcw34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
