Samsung would want to learn its lessons and then forget the Galaxy Note 7 battery fiasco that is expected to cost it billions of dollars in lost revenues. However, analysts fear that the issue could reverberate beyond the Note line and affect the sales of other Samsung products as well. According to Bloomberg, the sales of Samsung phones including the Galaxy S7 Edge have fallen 30% to 80% in Hong Kong and Singapore.
All eyes on Samsung’s Q3 results later this week
We will learn more about the impact of the global Galaxy Note 7 recall when Samsung releases its third-quarter financial results on Friday. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg have slashed their Note 7 sales estimates on average from 13 million units to just 8 million units. The Korean electronics giant was prompt to limit the damage. As soon as the reports of Galaxy Note 7 explosions started surfacing, Samsung announced the recall of 2.5 million units.
Analysts believe that the decline in Samsung’s mobile sales won’t have a huge impact on its Q3 earnings, thanks to the healthy sales of displays and memory chips. The company has relaunched the Galaxy Note 7 with safe batteries. Though Samsung claims most users replacing their faulty Note 7s have sought new Galaxy Note 7 instead of a refund or other models, only time will tell whether consumers will go for the Note 7 in large numbers.
Galaxy Note 7 impact will last a while
Following the recall, the “global perception of Samsung’s brand and quality has taken a slight knock,” said Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston. Other analysts said they were closely watching the sales of other Samsung products such as washing machines and Galaxy S7 to gauge the impact of Note 7 explosions.
IBK Securities analyst Lee Seung Woo told Bloomberg that the Note 7 impact will last a while, especially in the Chinese market, which is flooded with good phones. Samsung has also lost momentum against its biggest rivals Apple and Huawei in China, where the company was criticized heavily for excluding the country from the recall. Samsung said there was no reason to recall the Note 7s in China as those phones packed safe batteries from a different supplier.
Samsung rivals mocking Galaxy Note 7
Meanwhile, Samsung’s rivals are mocking its products over safety and reliability. LG Electronics has launched a campaign in India ahead of the crucial Diwali festival season. LG is sending the following mass messages to users: Heard the news of exploding products? At LG, our products go through multiple tests to ensure safety of our most valuable asset – YOU. Have a safe Diwali with LG. That’s a clear jab at Galaxy Note 7 explosions.
Last month, Lenovo-owned Motorola also targeted Samsung by offering a free Incipio offGRID Power Pack to Moto Z Droid buyers with the quote, “At Moto, our priority is safety first. Unlike some manufacturers, we adhere to the highest standards in quality and testing of all our batteries.
