Posted by Lilli Wofsy.
On October 11, 2016, Samsung reported that they would completely recall the Galaxy Note 7 and stop trying to fix the product overall. After there were many reports of the smartphone exploding or causing severe burns, Samsung attempted to fix the problem. With the hope of still profiting from the product, Samsung “decided to continue shipping new Galaxy Note 7s containing batteries from a different supplier” (Chen and Sang-Hun). Yet, using ATL battery instead of the original SDI battery did not help solve the issue of overheating. Many former employees of Samsung expressed they felt that the “militaristic” environment did not allow for there to be any communication from workers and the corporate bosses who just wanted to release the device.
While there have been “92 reports of Note 7 batteries overheating in the United States,” this is not the only Samsung product that has been flawed (Chen and Sang-Hun). There has been a recall in Australia for 144,000 washer machines that were likely to start fires in homes. Samsung has also had to recall “184,000 microwave ovens in the United States and 210,000 refrigerators in South Korea” (Chen and Sang-Hun). Though they have had many small recalls other than these large ones, customers have positively described their quickness in replacing or refunding their clients for the inconvenience.
Samsung has faced a hard hit due to the recent issues they have had with their products. On October 12th, Samsung noted they “absorb[ed] $2 billion in losses” (Chen and Sang-Hun). They reportedly earned 33.3 percent less that what they had projected to earn from the Galaxy Note 7. Between October 11th and 12th, the company’s shares went down 8.65 percent. With Samsung fighting with Apple to keep up with their never-ending battle, Samsung might be releasing products too quickly in hopes of beating their opponent. Yet Apple has not faced as many large recalls when compared to Samsung, rather they have only recalled one of their Nano products and one type of Beats. Maybe if Samsung’s workers have more openness about possible problems with products or testing out products more prior to releasing them, they can revive their company and make back up what they have lost from their present predicament.
Lilli is an English and legal studies minor at Seton Hall University, Class of 2018.
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