With Samsung’s ongoing problems over their exploding Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, the United States product safety and testing non-profit organization Consumer Reports has now stepped in calling on Samsung to initiate an official recall of all of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.
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In its rush to beat rival products to market, notably Apple’s new iPhone, SamsungElectronics has accelerated new phone launch cycles, but its haste is raising concerns that it fell short on quality testing. But, of late, the one feature that has generated the most buzz is a Note 7 handsets catching fire due to their batteries overheating. To date, the company reckons its sold around 2.5 million devices. Exploding batteries have forced the $230 billion tech giant to recall its latest smartphone. Their stock price dropped 2.76 percent after news that their batteries will no longer be used in Galaxy Note 7 devices, and their operating loss is estimated at around 18 billion won ($16 million). While the move is not expected to deter companies from using lithium batteries until a better technology breaks through, it will certainly be a lesson for companies conducting rigourous safety-tests before a product hits the market.
“Samsung has identified the affected inventory and stopped sales and shipments of those devices”, the company said in a statement.
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Further information on the Samsung recall can be found here. The recall comes hot on the heels of a much-acclaimed turnaround of Samsung’s key mobile unit. And back in 2007, Nokia recalled a batch of phones following around 100 incidents where the batteries overheated.
CPSC could have, for instance, made it illegal for retailers to sell the device, which Consumer Reports claims was still available at some retailers on Friday.
Equipped with 64GB internal storage, Samsung Galaxy Note 7also has a S Pen stylus, a 12-megapixel f/1.7 dual pixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera.
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If haste contributed to the problem, it could now help Samsunglimit the impact of the recall. In fact, there are many posters on Reddit who say they will hold on to their Note 7, at least for now. Ewan Spence of Forbes explains why Samsung’s problems have become a victory for the iPhone 7.
