14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung has already given up on the Note 7 series, but the fiasco isn’t over just yet, as the firm is still struggling to recover and reduce the damages that its explosive phone has created.
One of the priorities for the South Korean company right now is to convince Note 7 owners to stick with its devices, and although Samsung executives previously bragged with a very loyal userbase, a top Apple analyst believes that the iPhone 7 lineup is going to score big thanks to Samsung’s drama.
KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a note to investors that approximately 50 percent of those who ordered a Note 7 are now very likely to go for an iPhone 7, as customer trust is collapsing in the Samsung ecosystem and all these buyers are no longer planning to stick with phones manufactured by the South Korean firm.
Between 5 to 7 million Note 7 orders are likely to transfer to Apple, the analyst says, and the iPhone 7 Plus is expected to be the main model benefitting from this transition.
Google, Huawei to also experience boost in sales
Other Android phone manufacturers, including Huawei, are also likely to benefit from Samsung’s fiasco, and Google itself could also record an increase in Pixel sales following the Note 7 demise. But Apple will certainly take the lion’s share here, mostly thanks to the iPhone 7 Plus currently being positioned as a direct rival to the Note 7.
A study that was conducted recently by Branding Brand revealed that 40 percent of Samsung customers who ordered a Note 7 are ready to jump ship to a different manufacturer, with 30 percent of respondents explaining that the iPhone is very likely to be their next destination. Only 8 percent of them picked the Google Pixel, but what’s good for the ecosystem is that 62 percent of the users said they wanted to stick with Android.
Samsung itself expects the worst to happen, even though the company has already boosted S7 Edge production in anticipation of growing demand from Note 7 owners. The firm estimated a loss of $3 billion in operating profit for the last quarter of this year, as it struggles to recall defective phones.