Samsung Halts Production of Note 7 After Replacement Phones Explode
Samsung has halted production of its beleaguered Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after several replacement handsets reportedly caught fire and ended up with at least one person in a hospital.
On Monday, an official at a supplier for Samsung informed Korean Yonhap news agency of the decision, which is said to have been made in coordination with consumer safety regulators from South Korea, the United States, and China.
(Image: Shawn Minter)
The news is another hammer blow to Samsung’s mobile division and its 2016 flagship device, as the company reels from a second round of exploding phone incidents indicating that the replacement handset program at the center of its global recall efforts has failed.
The decision came after all mobile carriers in the U.S. said they would stop issuing Note 7 devices following at least five reports of replacement handsets catching fire over the last five days.
On Wednesday, a flight from Louisville to Baltimore was evacuated while still at the gate because of a smoking Note 7. Saturday saw a Minnesota case involving a 13-year-old girl who said she felt a “weird, burning sensation” while holding her phone and suffered a minor burn to her thumb. “It felt like pins and needles except a lot more intense,” she said.
Later the same day, a Kentucky man reported “vomiting black” after his Note 7 caught fire while he was asleep in bed, filling his room with smoke. “It wasn’t plugged in. It wasn’t anything, it was just sitting there,” said the man, who later took himself to ER and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis.
Then on Sunday, another Note 7 bedside incident took place in Virginia. The phone “just burst into flames while on the night stand,” said its owner. “I woke up in complete panic.” By midday another device had caught fire on a table where a Texas family sat eating lunch together.
All the handsets in the incidents were replacements issued by Samsung, which the company had previously claimed were using batteries that are “not vulnerable to overheating and catching fire.” Samsung has yet to explain what’s going on with the replacement devices.
Rumors have suggested Samsung’s Note 7 problems began after the company rushed the device into production after realizing the iPhone 7 would not feature major design changes, seeing it as an opportunity to one up Apple. Suppliers were pushed to meet tighter deadlines for an earlier launch, leading to critical oversights.
The supplier official who revealed the manufacturing halt this morning described the production as “temporarily suspended”, however it is difficult to imagine in what circumstances Samsung would resume production of the Galaxy Note 7, which many observers will now consider a toxic brand.
Early speculation that iPhone 7 could experience an uptick in sales because of Samsung’s woes seem increasingly likely. Samsung accounted for 27.8 percent of all smartphones shipped in Q1 2016, almost double Apple’s 14.4 percent share, but a big part of Samsung’s jump ahead was the early release of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, while the much-anticipated Note 7 was Samsung’s attempt to cater for the increasing popularity of larger-screen devices.
Update: Similar incidents of exploding replacement Note 7 phones have also been reported in Taiwan and South Korea.
Tags: Samsung, Galaxy Note 7
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Samsung reportedly halts Galaxy Note 7 production
After more reports of replacement Galaxy Note 7 phones catching fire, Yonhap News reports that Samsung has temporarily suspended production. The Korean paper cited an anonymous source working at one of Samsung’s suppliers, and the company has not yet commented. Already, AT&T and T-Mobile have said they will stop issuing Galaxy Note 7 sales and replacements while investigations into the incidents continue.
Developing…
Source: Yonhap News
Two more Galaxy Note 7 replacements caught fire this week
Unfortunately, that replacement Galaxy Note 7 which caught fire wasn’t just a one-off. There are now two more incidents of the ostensibly safer smartphone igniting and threatening the health of its users. To start, a teen in Farmington, Minnesota reports that her replacement Note 7 started burning up while it was in her hand on October 7th. She ‘only’ suffered a minor burn to her thumb, but tells KSTP that it could have been worse if it was in her pocket. Both Samsung and the Consumer Product Safety Commission say they’re investigating the issue.
The other incident is more concerning, however. Michael Klering in Nicholasville, Kentucky describes his replacement Note 7 catching fire in the early morning on October 4th, while it was sitting unplugged in his bedroom. While it didn’t set the bedroom on fire, it filled the room with smoke — a hospital diagnosed Klering with acute bronchitis following the blaze. He declined to give the phone to Samsung, but agreed to have it X-rayed for the firm’s investigation. It’s not clear if the CPSC is investigating this fire as well, although that seems probable given that it’s looking into the Farmington situation.
To make matters worse, a Samsung representative’s behavior raised eyebrows. One of the agents helping him accidentally texted him a message intended for another person at the company, indicating that the rep considered stalling Klering. “Just now got this,” it reads. “I can try and slow him down if we think it will matter, or we just let him do what he keeps threatening to do and see if he does it.” Klering now says that he’s looking into legal help.
We’ve asked Samsung for comment on both fires, particularly the one in Kentucky. However, it’s already safe to say that this doesn’t look good for the Korean tech giant. This represents three known fires in just the past week, and the Kentucky case happened the day before the Southwest Airlines fire that raised alarm bells. While the jury’s still out on whether these incidents are connected, there’s a mounting concern that the phone’s new battery isn’t any safer than before — or worse, that the Note 7 design is inherently flawed.
Via: The Verge (1), (2), Hatge (Twitter)
Source: KSTP, WKYT
Bloomberg: AT&T considering a halt on Galaxy Note 7 sales
Reports that a Galaxy Note 7 issued as a replacement caught fire on an airplane may be too much for at least one carrier. Bloomberg cites a single unnamed source claiming that AT&T is “considering” stopping sales of the troubled phone based on that incident. Although AT&T (along with Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon) have already issued statements indicating that customers can return or exchange their replacement phones, this would go a step further. The rumored deadline for the decision is Friday, which would put pressure on Samsung to figure out what’s going here.
Source: Bloomberg
Apple’s $120M patent victory over Samsung reinstated on appeal
Once again, the tables have turned in the Apple vs. Samsung patent saga. Back in February, a US circuit appeals court overturned the $120 million victory awarded to Apple way back in 2014, claiming that Samsung didn’t infringe on patents for swipe to unlock and an quick-link feature that turns information like addresses or phone numbers into links. But here we are six months later, with a different federal appeals court reinstating the case’s first decision awarding $120 million to Apple.
In an 8-3 decision, the new judicial panel found that the three judges presiding over the first appeal acted incorrectly by taking information into account that wasn’t in the first trial and ruling on issues never brought up on appeal, according to The Verge. But by reinstating the case’s first ruling, they also maintained that Apple pay Samsung $158,400 in damages for infringing on a video and gallery patent.
Developing…
Via: The Verge
Source: Bloomberg
AT&T, Sprint will exchange replacement Note 7s after airplane incident (updated)
A replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 started smoking and burned through the carpet on board a Southwest flight this week. Following the incident, one US carrier is allowing owners to exchange those replacement devices even though the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) hasn’t issued a formal warning or recall yet. Sprint confirmed to Engadget it will allow customers to return their replacement Note 7 for another device at its retail stores “during the investigation window.” The carrier says that it’s working with Samsung “to better understand the most recent concerns” with the handset.
Here’s Sprint’s full statement on the matter:
“Sprint is working collaboratively with Samsung to better understand the most recent concerns regarding replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is also investigating the Note 7 replacement device. At this time, CPSC has not specifically said if customers should or should not use the replacement model. If a Sprint customer with a replacement Note 7 has any concerns regarding their device, we will exchange it for any other device at any Sprint retail store during the investigation window. We will provide additional information when the investigation has concluded.”
So, what if you’re on T-Mobile, AT&T or Verizon? Well, Recode reports T-Mobile will accept returns so long as they fall within its normal 14-day “remorse” policy. The carrier began offering replacement Note 7s to customers on September 21st, so if you got one that day, the return window has already closed. T-Mobile began selling the phone to new customers this week, so they still have time to take it back. We’ve asked the carrier for more info on the return process and we’ll let you know when/if its responds.
AT&T confirmed to Engadget that it will also allow customers to exchange replacement Galaxy Note 7s for another phone. We also reached out to Verizon on the matter and haven’t heard back. When or if we do, we’ll update this post with more information. Both carriers have 14-day return policies similar to T-Mobile, but again, if you picked up a replacement on the 21st, that exchange period has already run out.
Update: This post has been updated to reflect AT&T confirmed that it too would offer exchanges.
Via: 9to5 Google
Source: Recode
Samsung Owes Apple $120 Million in Longstanding Slide-to-Unlock Lawsuit
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has reinstated Apple’s $119.6 million award in a longstanding patent lawsuit with Samsung, after eight of twelve judges ruled it was wrong to throw out the verdict in February.
The bulk of the award, $98.7 million, was for the detection patent that the earlier panel said wasn’t infringed. The February decision also said the other two patents were invalid. […] That was a wrong decision, the court ruled Friday, because it relied on issues that were never raised on appeal or on information that was beyond the trial record.
The long-running lawsuit dates back to 2011, when Apple accused Samsung of infringing upon its now-retired slide-to-unlock feature, autocorrect, and a method of detecting phone numbers so they can be tapped to make phone calls, according to Bloomberg. The case is not to be confused with a similar Apple v. Samsung lawsuit related to accusations of older Galaxy smartphones infringing upon the iPhone’s design.
The appeals court will argue that second case, also dating back to 2011, on Tuesday to determine how much Samsung should pay for copying the look and feel of the iPhone, according to the report. Samsung was originally ordered to pay Apple damages of $548 million, but it appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in December as a last-ditch effort to avoid paying the settlement.
In August, over 100 world-renowned designers, including Calvin Klein, Dieter Rams, and Norman Foster, filed an amicus brief in support of Apple in the lawsuit. The designers argued that a product’s visual design has “powerful effects on the human mind and decision making processes,” citing a 1949 study that showed more than 99% of Americans could identify a bottle of Coca-Cola by shape alone.
Tags: Samsung, lawsuit, patent trials
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Samsung Quarterly Earnings Guidance Shrugs Off Galaxy Note 7 Woes
Samsung announced strong third-quarter earnings guidance to investors on Friday despite its exploding smartphone woes, thanks in part to the company’s component and display panel business.
The Korean technology firm said it expects to earn $7 billion in operating profit for the three months ended September 30 – a 5.5 percent improvement from a year earlier – in a quarter that includes Samsung’s recall of 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones.
The company’s final earnings won’t be released until later in October, but the profit preview demonstrates Samsung’s ability to rely on other phone and PC makers to drive sales, and underlines the robustness of Samsung’s diversified business model during difficult times.
The company is now the undisputed market leader in DRAM memory chips and next-generation 3-D NAND flash memory chips. Samsung also has a substantial lead over its rivals in sales of OLED panels, which are increasingly being adopted for use in smartphones. Currently, Apple’s only supplier signed on to create OLED displays for the iPhone 8 is Samsung.
The exploding Note 7 debacle has dominated headlines recently, with a U.S. passenger plane being evacuated just this week when one of the phones began emitting smoke. Shares dipped 13 percent following initial reports of the widespread problem, which analysts estimate cost the company between $1 and $5 billion, not discounting significant damage to its smartphone brand. And yet shareholders’ confidence in Samsung’s semiconductor and display manufacturing have seen shares rebound into record territory.
Expectations for corporate governance changes have also fueled some of the recent gains, according to The Wall Street Journal. A day before Samsung’s Q3 earnings preview, shares jumped 4.5 percent to a new record high after U.S. activist investor Elliott Management Corp. argued that Samsung was undervalued by as much as 70 percent.
After the release of its earnings preview, Samsung’s stock increased by an extra 0.9 percent to finish above the 1,700,000-won mark for the first time in its history.
Tag: Samsung
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Samsung’s quarterly earnings weren’t affected by the Note 7 recall
Samsung might spend as much as $1.8 billion recalling and replacing 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7s, but it still expects a 5.6 percent operating profit growth for the third quarter. According to the Korean chaebol, its profit will likely reach 7.8 trillion won ($7 billion) for July to September, up 400 billion won from the same period last year and 400 billion more than forecasts predicted. See, despite its Note 7 issues, the company’s chip and display business has been doing very well — it might even be this quarter’s top earner, knocking Samsung’s mobile division off its perch.
Young Woo Kim, an analyst for SK Securities that’s owned by Korean conglomerate SK Group, told AP that Samsung’s chip and display business might have generated nearly half of its income. The company is the world’s foremost manufacturer of computer chips, after all, and is also a leading producer of OLED screens. It helps that Samsung uses the screens it makes for its Galaxy S7 phones whose sales apparently haven’t been affected by the company’s Note 7 problems. Kim believes, however, that its mobile business plunged to its lowest level within the past three quarters this July to September.
Samsung started recalling its latest plus-sized handset in early September, after it received several reports of units burning and exploding due to faulty batteries. The number of cases only grew after that initial notice, and airlines, subways and other locations started banning their use. The US and the Canadian government followed up with official recalls of their own. It doesn’t look like the company’s problems are over, though: A passenger aboard a Southwest flight recently reported that his replacement Note 7, which was supposed to be safe, overheated on board.
Now, this quarter’s earnings aren’t all roses for the tech titan: its sales fell 5 percent from a year earlier. Analysts believe its profit will only continue to grow these coming quarters, though, thanks to its computer chips and OLED screens. The company will release a more detailed report of its earnings later this month, so keep an eye out if you want to see exactly how it’s doing.
Source: AP, Reuters
Google Pixel XL vs Samsung Galaxy Note 7 first look
Google has taken the wraps off the Pixel XL, their new flagship handset, so it is only natural to compare it to one of our all-time favorite series. In this post we are putting the new Google Pixel XL right up against the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Shall we get started?
Right off the bat you can tell these are two very different smartphones. The Google Pixel XL brings forth a style we have grown very used to in the industry. It has a metal design and a sleek body that has become a standard in the high-end market. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 sports the same metal edge and glass front and back currently recognizable in all the latest Samsung handsets.
But that is all looks, right? Which one looks and feels best is a matter of preference. What we can tell you more about is resistance. The Google Pixel XL rocks an IP53 rating, which makes it dust and splash resistant. Meanwhile, Samsung goes all out with an IP68 rating – it is dust tight and can be immersed in water up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 also has that now-iconic curve along the edges of the front. This doesn’t do too much in terms of functionality, but it does make the phone feel thinner and more comfortable in the hand. The Google Pixel XL is also a beauty to hold, though. It’s just a matter of whether you like metal or glass better. What we can say is that the Google Pixel XL feels very solid. It is manufactured by HTC, after all. Samsung phones do tend to feel a little more fragile.
In terms of color choices both handsets have a few, but the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will grant more options. Sammy’s handset comes in Silver, Gold Platinum, Blue Coral, Black Onyx. Meanwhile, Google’s new phone has three variants: Very Silver, Quite Black and Really Blue (yes, that’s what they are calling these colors).
USB Type-C continues to become the standard and now we can see both handset featuring the new port. It can still be hard to adapt to it, due to lack of adoption, but it is the future and does provide certain improvements. A reversible connector, faster transfer speeds and better compatibility are only a few examples.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 comes with a slightly larger screen, but the quality turns out to be nearly as good in both cases. Google’s Pixel XL features a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a 2560×1440 resolution, while Samsung’s phablet touts a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED panel with the same definition.
High-end specs can only get so good nowadays, and both phones are nearing the current threshold.
In terms of performance we should see nearly identical results. High-end specs can only get so good nowadays, and both phones are nearing the current threshold. The Pixel features a powerful Snapdragon 821 processor with 4 GB of RAM, and the Note 7 is not far behind with its Exynos 8890. But when it comes to internal storage the Google Pixel XL has the upper hand, as it comes in variations of 32 and 128 GB. The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is limited to a single 64 GB version.
Things change once we start considering external memory, though. Google has built no expandable storage support into the new Pixel phones, and Samsung’s device can take microSD cards.
Battery life should also be pretty similar, as both phones feature nearly identical specs. The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 does have a bigger 3,500 mAh battery, but it only beats the Pixel XL by 50 mAh. The Galaxy Note 7 does win this round too, though, as it has better options for charging. Both come with fast-charging capabilities, but this time around Google is doing away with wireless charging, something many of us consider disappointing.
Shall we talk security? These handsets have great fingerprint readers with super fast recognition, but Samsung is bringing something interesting to the table – an iris scanner, which uses a dedicated camera near the selfie cam to search for a registered set of eyes to unlock the phone.
At first sight it may seem like these cameras are very similar, but there are a few key differences to be noted. The 12.3 MP Pixel XL camera has no OIS, but does promise large pixels (better light intake), super fast laser auto-focus, an f/2.0 aperture, slow motion and 4K video capture.
See also: Shootout: How good is the new Pixel XL camera?54
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 doesn’t fall behind, though, and some may say it is better. Its 12 MP sensor does have a better f/1.7 aperture, optical image stabilization and a dual pixel set-up for improved light intake. You can be sure we will be testing sample photos further. For now we really can’t pass judgement on which is better.
Overall, the user experience of these phones will predicate on Android and multitasking preferences. The Note 7 has a myriad of features to boast, including all of the different methods of multitasking that include the Multi Window and the Pop-Up View – and, of course, the S Pen brings its own very long list of features to the fold. Sharing is easier than ever in the Note, with tools like Screen Write, the Notes application that consolidates pretty much all ways of working with digital notes, and the Smart Select that now has a tool for recording 15 second GIFs of (almost) anything that is going on in the given frame. And for the users who need a constant reminder of any piece of information, the Screen Off Memo can pin notes to the Always on Display so that it is constantly within view.
Also read:
- Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
- Google Pixel and Pixel XL hands-on
- Google Pixel and Pixel XL vs the competition
The Google Pixel XL is limited by what the vanilla Android experience has to offer. It is a better option for those who prefer a cleaner experience with no bells and whistles, but we also can’t deny Samsung’s improvements have proven to be very convenient to many of you. One thing is for sure, the UI on Google’s software will be easier on the eyes and much more simplified.
The huge benefit Pixel users get is the promise of quick Android updates. Remember this is the replacement to the Nexus brand, which promises to keep you on the bleeding edge of Android software. And I must say, Android Nougat is so far quite delightful, bringing a lot of refinements to what we are used to in Marshmallow, including better ways of handling tasks and notifications as well as a bit more eye candy to please the design-minded.
The Pixel XL also packs a couple of features that are going to stay exclusive to it: the most important is Google Assistant, the greatly improved replacement to Google Now. But you also get unlimited original format photo and video storage, an integrated support app, and a customized launcher you won’t see on other devices.
Now, let’s talk money. The Google Pixel XL starts from $769, which is expensive, but then the Note 7 is even more pricey, costing as much as $900 at US carriers.
See also: Here’s where you can buy a Google Pixel in the US18
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 does show some advantages, mainly in software optimization, an iris scanner, S-Pen features and certain camera specs, but the Google Pixel XL offers performance, a clean software, Google Assistant, a metal construction and timely updates for what could be a slightly lower price point. Android purists will definitely choose Google’s phone any day.
But tell us what you think! Which phone will you go for?
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