Phone that went out with a bang

Samsung on Tuesday permanently scrapped its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. Reuters

ABU DHABI // Samsung on Tuesday permanently scrapped its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone.

The Korean manufacturer halted production after a recall of 2.5 million handsets failed to draw a line under a battery problem that caused them to catch fire and explode.

The phone was withdrawn “for the benefit of consumers’ safety”, the company said.

Earlier Samsung launched a “further investigation” into the Note 7’s problems, suspended it from sale and asked users to power down their devices. The announcement sent its shares into freefall and wiped $17 billion from the company’s value.

Big retailers such as Sharaf DG, Jumbo Electronics, Plug Ins and E-City all pulled the handset from shelves on Tuesday, although it was still on sale at independent outlets, including small retailers on Defence Road in Abu Dhabi.

Retailers referred customers to Samsung for refunds. The company has not announced a returns policy. Samsung Gulf declined to comment.

Samsung released the 5.7 inch Note 7 in mid-August to glowing reviews: influential tech website The Verge described it as the company’s “best phone ever”.

But serious problems emerged within days as users reported their devices emitting smoke, exploding and catching fire. Airlines, including Emirates, urged passengers not to charge their devices on a plane.

Samsung announced a recall of 2.5 million Note 7 handsets, and on October 1 they resumed sales of devices deemed safe.

In the past week, however, several supposedly safe devices have caught fire, and one such incident forced the evacuation of a Southwest Airline plane in the US, leading the company to finally call time on the device.

Credit Suisse on Tuesday estimated the discontinuing of the Note 7 could cost the company up to $17 billion in sales.

But retailers say the withdrawal of the handset is unlikely to hurt sales of other high-end Samsung devices such as the Galaxy S7 Edge.

“Samsung’s brand is still very strong, and other devices like the S7 Edge are still very popular and still sell very well,” said Ashish Panjabi, chief operating officer of Jacky’s Electronics. “While the brand equity of the Note series may be dented, that isn’t the case with the flagship S series.”

Nilesh Khalko, chief executive of Sharaf DG, expected Samsung customers to remain loyal and for the company to overcome the blow to its reputation.

“Many brands in the past have faced issues with recalls and product failures, but the best brands have always worked quickly to find solutions to win back their customers’ confidence,” he said. “Samsung may face a temporary slowdown in sales of their phones, but I’m confident they will bounce back stronger in the future.

“All our customer care desks and service centres are ready to help out customers who bring in their devices.”

Junaid Akram, a Samsung phone user who works for an engineering company in Sharjah, said: “They were obviously trying to improve their product by adding battery life, it backfired. But this is the way humans progress.”

Mr Akran, a Samsung mobile user for the past seven years, bought an S7 Edge two days ago despite the recall of the Note 7.

“Trying and failing is better than failing to try and when you are trying to improve quality, it sometimes works, but sometimes it does not. I would still buy Samsung and I got myself an S7 Edge.

“Of course safety comes first, but they have been great in terms of innovation and ideas so I’m willing to give them some leeway. I will not backtrack just because of one mishap. You don’t break up a relationship like this, you wouldn’t do it even with people.”