Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 battery explosion crisis gets worse

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) officially announced the recall of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 that exploded and caught fire. The CPSC said in a statement that consumers should immediately stop using and turn off the Galaxy Note 7 phone, and have the right to request a replacement Galaxy Note 7 with a different battery, a refund, or a replacement with another smartphone. In the US, product recalls by businesses must go through the CPSC, and the CPSC's statement dealt a heavy blow to Samsung Electronics. Even though Samsung announced a large-scale recall, it was losing ground in the endless stream of regulations restricting the use of the Galaxy Note 7 to protect consumers, and the crisis brought to Samsung by the Galaxy Note 7 battery explosion is getting worse.

Samsung's global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 due to battery explosions has been hit by a triple blow in the United States, with the Galaxy Note 7 igniting cars, injuring a boy, and the FAA urging passengers not to use the Galaxy Note 7 on airplanes. Samsung's efforts to recover from its reputation crisis through a large-scale recall have encountered setbacks. Among Galaxy Note 7 users across the United States, news about Galaxy Note 7 explosions and fires, and warnings from official agencies are constantly reminding people that it is unsafe to use the Galaxy Note 7, and panic about the Galaxy Note 7 and even Samsung products is spreading.

The impact on Samsung: short-term performance and long-term confidence

Fortune magazine quoted a report from the New York Post that a 6-year-old boy in Brooklyn, New York, was burned when his Galaxy Note 7 exploded. The boy's grandmother, Linda Lewis, said that the explosion of the Galaxy Note 7 triggered the smoke alarm, and they called 911 and sent the boy to Downstate Medical Center for treatment. Although it was later proved that the accident was caused by an old Galaxy Core phone, the public's negative impression of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 has already been formed. The vivid picture of the boy's injury in the previous report made the Samsung phone explosion gate more concrete. Remember the European refugee policy crisis triggered by the photo of a 3-year-old Syrian refugee lying dead on the beach a year ago? In the general perception, children are more vulnerable to accidents and dangers, so the safety standards of any product involving children in the United States are extremely strict. Although the guardian of the 6-year-old boy in Brooklyn is responsible for the accident, and giving electronic devices to young children is not conducive to their growth, the reality is that many children are now using various electronic devices, and tired parents will default to their children using electronic devices such as smartphones or tablets for a short time, just to have a little time to do housework, etc. So the focus of the matter is how Samsung's device caused the 6-year-old boy to be burned and how to protect other children from being affected by the battery explosion of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

Samsung Electronics began its global recall after news reports of Galaxy Note 7 batteries overheating and exploding. However, in order to occupy as much market share as possible before Apple's iPhone 7, the distribution and sales of the Galaxy Note 7 were a huge workload. Now that this process has to be interrupted and redistributed, Samsung is a bit overwhelmed. In a statement, Samsung said it would complete the work of replacing new Galaxy Note 7 phones in most US retail stores by September 22, nearly a month after the earliest explosive news appeared, and 20 days since Samsung announced the recall of the phone.

There have been 92 cases of battery overheating involving Samsung electronic devices in the United States, including 26 burns and 55 property damage, including car and garage fires. The North American market is Apple's largest market and the main market for Samsung's flagship phones such as the Galaxy Note 7. The current crisis is spreading faster than Samsung can control the impact of the incident and recall the phones, which has also hit consumer and investor confidence in Samsung, the world's largest smartphone manufacturer. After Samsung announced the recall, the company's stock price continued to fall, losing $26 billion in a few days, until Lee Jae-yong, the successor of Samsung Group, joined the board of directors.

Samsung responded quickly, announcing in early September that it would recall 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7s in 10 countries and other markets where the phone had already been sold. It was also forced to postpone the release of the Galaxy Note 7 in key markets such as India. However, Samsung's efforts were greatly reduced as airlines and regulators in various countries warned consumers not to use or charge the Galaxy Note 7 on their phones.

In a brief statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) strongly advises passengers not to use or charge the Galaxy Note 7, and not to check the Galaxy Note 7 in luggage. The FAA has not confirmed any incidents involving Galaxy Note 7 battery heating or explosions, but strong statements about the potential dangers of specific brands of devices are rare in the FAA's history. Unlike flights in China, American passengers can use smartphones and other electronic devices on airplanes, and most American airplanes already provide paid WiFi. The FAA's statement has a direct impact on Samsung phones.

China's Civil Aviation Administration and some airlines have also followed up with restrictions on the use of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones on airplanes, although Samsung had not previously recalled the Galaxy Note 7 in China - the announcement of the recall of 1,800 Galaxy Note 7s came after the ban by the Civil Aviation Administration. Samsung did not recall the Galaxy Note 7 in China because the Galaxy Note 7 sold by Samsung Electronics in China uses batteries provided by different manufacturers. Samsung believes that the Galaxy Note 7 sold in China does not have the possibility of heating and explosion. However, the actions of the Civil Aviation Administration of China's airlines cannot be said to be unreasonable. Even if Chinese flights restrict passengers from using mobile phones, after all, Chinese airlines also have a large number of international flights every day, and Chinese people may buy electronic devices abroad. It is impossible for airline flight attendants to check the place of sale of the Galaxy Note 7. Banning the use of the Galaxy Note 7 is the most convenient and safe approach.

In the United States, in addition to the FAA's restrictions on consumers using Galaxy Note 7 phones on airplanes, some cities' transportation management departments have already restricted passengers from using Galaxy Note 7, including the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and New Jersey Transit. These two departments require passengers to turn off their Galaxy Note 7 phones when entering subway stations and taking subways. New York's public transportation facilities are the most developed in the United States. The subways in New York and New Jersey are connected, and there are also some train transportation. To some extent, living in New Jersey is similar to living outside the fifth ring road in Beijing. There are still many people who take public transportation to New York to work every day. Not being able to use mobile phones during a long journey still affects the user experience of users who have already purchased Galaxy Note 7.

Samsung's recall of Galaxy Note 7 was quick enough, but it may still be too slow for consumers. The losses to Samsung are not only incurred during the recall process. Consumers switching to products from Samsung's competitors, especially new iPhones receiving subsidies from US operators again, will make Samsung's previous expectations that Galaxy Note 7 will boost the company's performance come to nothing. Samsung's long-term performance may even be affected because consumer confidence in the Samsung brand has been hit.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 car fires reported in media

The cause of the Galaxy Note 7 explosion is the lithium battery. Samsung faces a choice

Battery fires have been blamed by researchers for three cargo plane crashes in the past decade, and even though there have been no confirmed reports of crashes caused by passenger lithium batteries, the Federal Aviation Administration warned in January that lithium batteries could pose a risk of damage to aircraft. However, as smartphone manufacturers pursue more powerful batteries for greater power, researchers believe that lithium batteries are more likely to be unstable, and the explosion of Samsung Electronics' Galaxy Note 7 is just the latest case.

Another difficulty for Samsung in regaining consumer confidence this time is that the batteries for Galaxy Note 7 come from two companies, Samsung SDI Co and Amperex Technology Ltd. The problematic mobile phone battery comes from Samsung SDI Co, another subsidiary of Samsung Group. Samsung SDI Co provides 65% of the batteries for Galaxy Note 7, and this accident may have occurred in the fast charging function. Samsung SDI Co is also a supplier to Apple. It is not yet known whether the company's battery supply to other mobile phone manufacturers has been affected.

One method Samsung has currently introduced is to use software updates to limit the charging amount of Galaxy Note 7 users, hoping to temporarily reduce the risk of explosion of the Galaxy Note 7 by reducing the charging amount to 60%. However, this is only an attempt in the process of completely replacing all consumer mobile phone batteries. Samsung will eventually have to spend more than $1 billion to replace the dangerous batteries.

The key now is, after replacing the Galaxy Note 7 battery, will consumers still buy new Galaxy Note 7 products? Can Samsung's fan base recover from the Galaxy Note 7 explosion? Galaxy Note 7 had the potential to be a strong contender for the best mobile phone of the year, challenging the iPhone 7's status, but now a small lithium battery has ruined Samsung's chances this year, and the impact of the explosion may have a more far-reaching impact on the specifications of smartphones and lithium battery devices.

Galaxy Note 7 sales reached 2.5 million units within a few weeks of its release, which was a pleasant surprise for Samsung. Samsung should have wasted its time trying to boost sales before iPhone 7 production capacity reached a large scale, but it wasted its time trying to put out fires everywhere. From the perspective of product performance, Galaxy Note 7 is a very powerful smartphone, but from the perspective of consumers, Galaxy Note 7 may be Samsung's most failed flagship phone.

As the impact of the Galaxy Note 7 explosion crisis expands, consumers will only think that Samsung phones have problems. Samsung may not have many choices: should it stop selling the Galaxy Note 7 or wait for the launch of a new flagship phone? The gap of these few months has become a dilemma for Samsung Group successors and company executives.

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.