Samsung Stops Production of iPhone 7 Rival Galaxy Note 7
You know you’re in deep trouble if the units you’ve put out as replacements of defective units turn out to be defective themselves.
That’s the awkward situation Apple’s chief competitor, Samsung, has found itself in. And to contain the catastrophe, the South Korean consumer electronics giant has reportedly put a temporary halt on the production of its flagship smartphone in question, the Galaxy Note 7.
Temporary suspension
As reported by Yonhap, Samsung has “temporarily suspended” the production of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. According to the South Korean news agency’s source, an official at a supplier for Samsung, the stoppage is in compliance with the requirements of consumer safety regulators from South Korea, China, and the U.S., and that it entails a pause in operations in a Samsung plant in Vietnam that fulfills global shipments of the device.
The halt in production comes amid reports of self-combusting and exploding Galaxy Note 7 units that were issued as replacements for units that were recalled because of their being at high risk of catching fire.
A brief history of fire
In early September, just a couple of weeks after the release of the smartphone, Samsung announced a global recall of 2.5 million units of the Galaxy Note 7. The move was made after it became apparent that the device’s battery was prone to overheating and liable to cause the phone to burst into flames.
But then, despite their supposedly having safe batteries, the Galaxy Note 7 replacement units turned out to be faulty themselves and exhibited the same fiery symptoms as their predecessors in incidents reported in South Korea, Taiwan, and the U.S. Perhaps the most notable case was that of the replacement unit that last week emitted smoke in a Southwest Airlines flight from Louisville to Baltimore and resulted in the evacuation of the plane.
Prompted by such incidents, two of the top carriers in the U.S., AT&T and T-Mobile, announced over the weekend that they would be temporarily stopping sales and replacements of Galaxy Note 7 units.
‘You’re fired!’
It’s yet unclear what has been causing the recalled Galaxy Note 7 units and even their replacements to catch fire. But there has been widespread speculation that the issue is rooted in Samsung’s hubristic decision to rush the device to production after it became apparent that Apple’s iPhone 7 would not have major new features.
Now, though, it appears that sales of the iPhone 7 is more than likely to benefit from the flaming fiasco that is the Galaxy Note 7.
