14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung’s currently conducting a massive operation for retrieving all Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from their owners. In the US, the company must retrieve 1.9 million units, but the number of all Note 7 phones sold worldwide wasn’t disclosed.
A report by Business Korea shows that Samsung’s future projects could be slowed down because of the Note 7 situation. Samsung Electronics is currently conducting multiple projects in various fields, such as iris recognition, finance, security, cloud and electric cars.
The Galaxy Note 7 fiasco impacts the company’s financial stability and brand image. Moreover, its suppliers are also affected, especially the battery maker, since the problem in replacement Note 7 is suspected to have been caused by ATL batteries. However, until the results of multiple investigations are made official, it’s unsure what flaw caused the phone to overheat and catch fire.
Samsung may postpone plans involving iris recognition technology
The Note 7 situation could also affect the Gear VR headset, which is paired with the Note 7. Oculus already announced that it removed support for the smartphone on its platform.
The South Korean company has yet to release the Gear S3 smartwatch and it might not make it available to users any time soon, since the company’s brand image received a serious hit these past few days.
Since the Galaxy Note 7, was the first Samsung smartphone to have Samsung Cloud integration and iris recognition technology, development in these two areas may also be affected in the near future. When the Galaxy Note 7 was launched, Samsung started talks with banks and financial institutions in South Korea in an attempt to implement safer banking technology on mobile devices using iris recognition.
The project was expected to be expanded globally. Needless to say, the plan was abandoned or postponed at best, since the Note 7 is no longer available on the market.
Samsung’s chance at bouncing back from the negative impact of the Note 7 lies with next year’s release of the Galaxy S8. The company will be relying heavily on its upcoming smartphone to help regain some of the lost consumer trust.