How to deal with 4.3 million Note7s? Samsung's new challenge

How to deal with 4.3 million Note7s? Samsung's new challenge
It has been a while since the Note7 explosion. Last month, Samsung also openly explained the cause of the explosion, which put an imperfect end to the whole incident. However, the follow-up is far from over. How to deal with the recalled and remaining Note7 phones will become a new issue that Samsung needs to face. Relevant statistics show that last year Samsung put a total of 3.06 million Note 7s on the market, and finally recalled 2.7 million units due to the explosion, of which 190,000 were recalled in the Chinese market. In addition to the recalled phones and the phones used to find out the cause of the explosion, Samsung Note 7 may have 2.5 million unsold stocks. In other words, there should be nearly 4.3 million Note 7s that may explode at any time piled up in Samsung's warehouses. If the protective measures are not in place, the degree of harm should be equivalent to a powder keg. Therefore, how to deal with these phones will be an urgent issue for Samsung. For mobile phone manufacturers, it is not difficult to manufacture millions of mobile phones, but it is a very tricky thing to deal with so many mobile phones because it involves the impact on the environment. In fact, Samsung has been concerned by environmental protection and regulatory authorities because of this problem. According to an analysis by researchers at the German Oeko-Institut, 4.3 million Note 7s contain more than 20 tons of cobalt, 1 ton of tungsten, 1 ton of silver, 100 kilograms of gold, and 20-60 kilograms of palladium. The production of Note 7 uses about 50 elements, but due to the current recycling technology, only 12 elements can be recycled. Judging from the composition of the raw materials of Note 7, it would be a huge waste if it is directly destroyed, and it would also have an immeasurable impact on the environment. Greenpeace once wrote that 4.3 million Note 7 phones may be an "environmental disaster". The organization also called on Samsung to take appropriate measures to minimize pollution to the environment and publish corresponding recycling and disposal plans. In addition to international organizations, South Korean regulatory authorities have also intervened. Therefore, no matter how Samsung disposes of these problematic phones, it will be difficult to escape the scrutiny of regulatory authorities. In fact, compared to directly destroying these phones, Samsung seems to have found a better solution-refurbishing and selling Note 7. According to Korean media reports, Samsung has already started refurbishing these phones and will replace them with smaller lithium batteries with a capacity of about 3000 to 3200 mAh. The smaller size will reduce the possibility of battery overheating. They will also be given a new shell and even a new name - Note 7S. In short, Samsung wants these phones to appear in front of consumers with a brand new look. But the question is where these refurbished phones will be sold. After all, the Note 7 was recalled twice before it was finally announced that it would completely abandon sales. Therefore, it should be impossible to sell refurbished phones in the North American and European markets; and considering the previous boycott by Chinese users, it is not realistic to sell Note 7 refurbished phones in the Chinese market. According to Korean media reports, these refurbished phones may eventually be sold to developing countries such as India and Vietnam. Due to relatively low supervision, it is conducive to the review of refurbished phones; users have a lower consumption level and may buy cheap refurbished phones; and the penetration rate of smartphones is not high, these countries will be more suitable for Samsung to sell refurbished phones. If so many Note 7s can be disposed of in the form of refurbishment, Samsung can reduce some of its economic losses. More importantly, it can solve the environmental problems that need to be faced in the disposal of recycled mobile phones, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone. But the problem is that not all developing countries are willing to accept these refurbished phones, such as India. In fact, from the perspective of market size, user demand and other factors, India should be one of the most suitable countries for selling refurbished Note 7 phones. But after Samsung exposed the refurbishment plan, Samsung Electronics India responded immediately, saying that the news of selling refurbished Note 7 phones in India was incorrect. The reason may be that it was rejected by the Indian government. In the past two years, in order to boost the economy, the Indian government has begun to vigorously support local manufacturing and put forward the slogan of "Make in India" last year. The Indian government rejected the Note 7 refurbished phones, on the one hand because it was worried about damaging the local manufacturing development plan, and on the other hand, it was also to protect the rights and interests of consumers. It is worth mentioning that Apple also proposed a plan to sell official refurbished phones in India, but it was also rejected by the Indian government. The reasons should be roughly similar. Although Samsung has not mentioned whether it will sell refurbished Note 7 phones in other emerging markets, it has at least lost a large market like India. Therefore, even if they can be sold smoothly in countries such as Vietnam, these markets will not be able to absorb 4.3 million refurbished phones. How to deal with these 4.3 million Note 7s? Renovation alone is far from enough. Samsung still needs to study this new topic seriously.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.

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