Yesterday, Samsung announced it is ending the production of the Galaxy Note 7 around the world, pulling the plug on the phone after a months-long controversy over its defective, dangerous batteries. The company’s shares tumbled 8 percent the same day, its biggest one-day decline in nearly a decade. The damage is immense, with analysts estimating the recall could end up costing as much as $17 billion.
Of course it is just too dangerous to leave that phone in the hands of consumers, but the fact that Samsung does/can not identify the problem bothers me. Although i do have to note that there are only 35 reported incidents of overheating Note 7’s worldwide.
Samsung never clearly stated the reason for the Note 7’s exploding issues; the company said it was a “very rare manufacturing error” that causes the anode to come into contact with the cathode, which in turns causes the overheating of the battery cell, but that explanation now sounds sorely lacking. However, a report by the New York Times indicates that despite assigning “hundreds” of employees, Samsung has not been able to reproduce the spontaneously smoky, blazing hot phones too many customers have experienced. Thus, when you can’t even replicate an issue, you pretty much don’t know the exact cause.
The former director of the Center for Advanced Batteries at the Korea Electronics Technology Institute Park Chul-wan, says the issue is probably “far more complex” than some error with the battery or the chip board. I guess Samsung over packed their product with too much innovation in order to surpass Apple. But regardless of whether Samsung knew, exactly, why the Note7 batteries’ keep bursting or not, the decision to recall the device for good was the right one. I’m curious how the South Korean company will compensate this immense set back.
