The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was supposed to be a rival for Apple’s iPhone 7, but the rush in which Samsung rushed to get the market on the shelves may the reason behind its failure. They must have gotten issues with the hardware which resulted in the phone batteries catching fire that led to the phones being recalled. Even after the phones were replaced after the recall, it continued to self-combust which has led to the killing of the smartphone by the company. However, this is not without some harm already done.
Before this current issue, the Korean company has wowed a lot of people that love and even those that hate it with their introduction of Galaxy S6, S7 as well as the Edge counterparts and the smartwatch it came up with for the Gear 2. The company has enjoyed consistent and good perception since 2014 till this recent issue even as other hardware manufacturers are falling by the wayside.
This issue with the company has supported the fact that to be successful in the production of technologies, it was important that software, hardware, and the services section are in synchrony. The company has been one sided in this approach which has caused it a month of criticism and bad publicity.
The company has been aiming to take over the market and be ahead of Apple by introducing products that are unrivaled which at the end of the day got it a trust issue among its users who are now afraid of the phone bursting in their faces.
Samsung would have gotten over this in no time if the timing was not wrong, at least from their angle. Google’s range of Android smartphones has been receiving patronage like no other with Samsung gaining the lion’s share, but with the plan to introduce Pixel phone by Google, Samsung may have fallen far behind in recovering from the blow.
Google can decide to ignore queries on why the people should choose the Pixel XL over Note 7 by simply stating the features that make it far much better than Samsung coupled with the fact that the phone being owned by Google will have long lasting OS patches and security than Note 7. Although this is not to say that the Pixel will outsell Samsung’s phone since it is only available in few countries, it will, however, shift Samsung a little from its high sitting position.
Looking at the short and long term now, Samsung does not seem to have a bright future. People will hardly forget the experience they had with their phone exploding and would be skeptical about going with any new phone they might come up with. this will give Google the opportunity to bring the Pixel to people’s faces.
Google will then begin increasing its distribution channel and marketing for the Pixel and will go further to make phones that have more sophistication that will also be backed by exclusive assistance. Gradually, Google will aim at supplanting Samsung and taking over as Apple rival if they play their game well.
It is not yet known how much of a damage has been done with the Note 7, but the company is not going to escape without a big dent of safety issues surrounding it. Apple is still being mocked for the antenna issues it had some years ago with its iPhone 4 and so Samsung will not be an exception.
Google will not take over the lead from Samsung just yet, but there might be new issues that will come out from both companies that make use of Android for their smartphones. We will be on the lookout.