It appears there is more to the exploding Galaxy Note 7 debacle than Samsung has let on, and if a recent report is to be believed, the cause of it may be something that consumers have become all too accustomed to in this day and age: a company prioritizing speed and profit instead of quality and safety.
Last week, the South Korean firm gave the preliminary results of a probe into the exploding Galaxy Note 7 to the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, saying that the phone exploded because of a manufacturing error. However, a new report suggests that this manufacturing error was the result of Samsung rushing to get its latest flagship handset out on the market before Apple launched its newest iPhone.
The Bloomberg report, citing "people familiar with the matter," states that Samsung execs heard rumors of the iPhone 7 being "dull" and "underwhelming," prompting them to speed up development and push suppliers to meet tighter deadlines.
"So the top brass at Samsung Electronics Co., including phone chief D.J. Koh, decided to accelerate the launch of a new phone they were confident would dazzle consumers and capitalize on the opportunity," the report says. "They pushed suppliers to meet tighter deadlines, despite loads of new features."
In theory, this attempt was sound: compared with the "dull" iPhone 7 Apple was poised to release, the Note 7 was "cutting-edge" with features such as an iris scanner and a wrap-around screen. By releasing its product before Apple, not only would Samsung illustrate that its rival had fallen behind in innovation, but also that it would be on the market for a longer period of time — preventing Apple from making a mark on a market that already had a "superior" phone readily available.
In reality, however, the opposite has occurred.
Samsung did manage to launch its latest handset sooner than usual, but all that has seemingly done is give Apple an advantage. Compared with the hissing noise of the iPhone 7, which is likely due to coil noise and damping, the Note 7 has caught fire on at least 90 occasions.
This, of course, has led to developments the company would not have imagined unfolding just a few weeks before, including an unprecedented recall, the U.S. government telling people to return the phones, the FAA banning them from being taken on planes and even a lawsuit.
"We sincerely thank our customers for their understanding and patience," said Samsung mobile chief D.J. Koh in a statement to Note 7 users on Sept. 10 — virtues that Samsung itself should exercise in the future.
