Should Samsung kill off the Note brand? [POLL]
Two months ago, Samsung was on top of the world. The company had just launched the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 to rave reviews and sales of the device were picking up steam. Since then, the Note 7 has received unprecedented news coverage, but not in the way that Samsung had predicted. The phone was recalled after it was determined that faulty batteries were causing Note 7s to explode, but the issue persisted with the “safe” units that Samsung shipped to replace the recalled devices.
One month into the debacle and Samsung has permanently stopped production of the Galaxy Note 7, asking everyone who owns the device to return the phone for a full refund or exchange it for another Samsung phone.
Manufacturing defects and product recalls are an everyday occurrence, but it’s not often that using a specific smartphone has been considered dangerous for you and the people around you. While technology news outlets have covered the Note 7’s battery issues extensively since the issue came to light, Samsung’s smartphone is making the rounds on local and national news outlets in the US and other countries across the globe.
It’s hard to say the long-term effect of the exploding Note 7 will have on Samsung’s bottom line, but analysts claim that Samsung will forego $17 billion in revenue that it was expecting to pull in will sales of the Note 7 over the course of one year.
The Note 7 debacle will certainly have a negative impact on Samsung’s brand going forward, so it may be in the company’s best interest to kill the Note brand altogether. We’re not saying that Samsung should throw in the towel and not build a Note-like device, but the Note brand is now tainted and will likely be associated with the exploding Note 7 for years to come. Since Samsung skipped over the Note 6 so that the Note 7 matches the number of its Galaxy S phones, Samsung could easily change the name of next year’s Note to the Samsung Galaxy S8 Pro or something similar.
[polldaddy poll=9548630]
What’s your take on Samsung’s Galaxy Note brand? Do you think a Samsung’s Note succeed under a new brand?