2016 is almost coming to an end, and consumers have been treated to both high levels of tech by leading industry players as well as some lows. For instance, Samsung has had its share of highs and lows this year. Although the tech giant began the year with a high note, it terribly failed towards the end of the year.
The Korean Giant Dominated the Sales of Smartphones in the Indian Market
At the beginning of 2016, Samsung had successfully made the Indian market its stronghold. This is according to IDC, a leading market research firm, which revealed that the Korean giant was leading in sales with a 25.1 percent market share. This implied a sequential growth of up-to 10.9 percent and another 15 percent growth from the previous year. According to IDC, the reason behind Samsung’s success could not only be attributed to its flagship products but its J7, J5, and J2 updated versions played a crucial role. These updated versions and flagship products not only made the company more popular than its leading contender Micromax, but it became the most preferred device marker beating Apple and the Chinese device makers.
Consumers Received Both the Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge Warmly
In March this year, Samsung revealed arguably one of the best smartphones to date, the Samsung Galaxy S7 as well as the Samsung S7 edge. Consumers loved these devices because of their worthy camera, beautiful design language and their great performance. These features greatly impacted on the success of the company.
In 2015, the company hadn’t performed very well because competition from the Chinese rivals such as Xiaomi and Huawei as well as Apple was very stiff. However, in 2016, during the second quarter, its profit rose by approximately 17.4 percent thanks to its new flagships. A report revealed that the company was able to ship Samsung Galaxy S7 gadgets amounting to $11.8 million and Galaxy S7 edge gadgets amounting to $13.3 million during the first half of this year. These numbers were quite impressive that they made the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge one of the most popular devices of all time.
The company couldn’t celebrate yet because of the big task ahead. Apple was getting ready to unveil its new device, the iPhone 7 therefore, Samsung had to rush and unveil its Galaxy Note 7. Its Note series has for a long time remained a big deal for the company and the Galaxy Note 7 August release was not different, which came one month exactly prior Apple’s new flagships announcement. The Note 7 shared several elements with the Galaxy S7 such as a great camera, an iris scanner; a Super AMOLED curved display not forgetting a waterproof glass.
The Flop
Immediately after unveiling, the new Galaxy Note 7 began selling in several markets. However, one month was not over, and reports about the device catching fire began trickling in. The number of Galaxy Note 7 reports catching fire rapidly increased, and this led to delaying India’s first stock. The company went ahead to issue a statement to confirm the battery malfunction of the Galaxy Note 7. The company responded by sending replacement Note 7 units to its consumers and the replacement units had the catching fire problem as well. This was a big blow to the company since their Smartphone was prohibited from flights. Additionally, Galaxy Note 7 users were advised to refrain from using their gadgets while traveling.
Replacements were not working, and this forced the company to recall the smartphone. It issued its consumers with boxes asking them to give back the device because it posed a serious security threat. It even restricted battery charging of the Galaxy Note 7 by rolling out some software updates. For consumers in India who had already pre-ordered the smartphone, they were offered a refund and also an opportunity to purchase the Samsung Galaxy S7 together with the Gear VR headset.
Reports indicated that the company successfully recalled up-to 90 percent of the defective Galaxy Note 7 devices. Moreover, the company is scheduled to release a software update that will be compulsory for the other Galaxy Note 7 devices out there to make them useless. According to reports, Samsung suffered a loss amounting to $3 billion from the defective Galaxy Note 7.
Washing Machines Exploded Too
Problems facing Samsung did not end with the faulty Galaxy Note 7. Towards the end of 2016, a warning was issued by the Consumer Safety Commission of the US claiming that some Samsung washing machines had some issues with safety. The machines were blowing up while in use, and this posed a great risk to the users. The company responded by confirming the allegations saying that the affected machines experienced abnormal vibrations, which posed risks to users. Reports show that currently, approximately 21 washing machines from the company have blown up.
Conclusion
2016 will go down in history as one of Samsung’s most memorable years. Although the company boasts to have some of the best devices in the market today, it has lost lots of credibility and consumers are refraining from purchasing its products.
