Samsung Ends Note S7 Production

South Korean tech giant Samsung has permanently ceased Note S7 production after second round of battery fires.

10:12 12 October 2016

Samsung has announced that it will permanently end the production of its high-end Galaxy Note 7. The move came following a second round of battery fires. The company has already recalled the Note 7 last month after early models exploded. However, there were reports that replacement phones were also catching fire. In the US, there were at least five fires reported in replacement devices.

 

"We recently readjusted the production volume for thorough investigation and quality control, but putting consumer safety as top priority, we have reached a final decision to halt production of Galaxy Note 7s," the company said.

 

"For the benefit of consumers' safety, we stopped sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 and have consequently decided to stop production."

 

Samsung said that it sold about 45,000 Note 7s through pre-orders in Europe. The handset was never released for sale in the UK.

 

Analysts say that Samsung’s move to scrap off the Note 7 could cost it the long run.

 

Richard Windsor, from Edison Investment Research, said: "As a result of making a complete mess of the Galaxy Note 7 recall, Samsung is more likely to lose a large number of high-end users to other Android handsets rather than to Apple.

 

"The real issue is brand and reputation. As long as Samsung carried out the recall smoothly and kept users very happy, the issue would eventually blow over.

 

"Unfortunately, this is very far from the case, and the fact that Samsung appeared to still be shipping defective devices could trigger a large loss of faith in Samsung products."