14 DAY TRIAL // September 2, 2016 marks one month since the Galaxy Note 7 was officially released and the day when Samsung made the bold decision to recall all sold units, although the impact of such a move would be overwhelming.
Samsung decided to recall 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 units sold in its home country South Korea and other regions. On Friday, the company apologized for the battery problem and stated that there had been 35 reported cases of Note 7 units catching fire while charging.
An unnamed company official explained for Korea Herald that "the rate of the defective devices is only 0.0024 percent of the total, which is so tiny that other companies wouldn't even pay attention to it. So, a majority of opinions at first proposed replacing only the batteries and posting a statement of apology on the company's website.”
It's not uncommon for phones to catch fire, and back in December, there were at least two cases of iPhone 6 Plus devices that caught fire and caused real injuries to owners. But at the time, Apple didn't decide to recall the model, and it just simply handled cases at an individual level.
Samsung's recall decision could create a precedent in the market, and if such incidents should ever occur with phones produced by other manufacturers, said companies could be compelled to also issue a recall.
Samsung employees traded their incentives for the recall
The report seems to suggest that Samsung's own employees were behind the recall, as their statements convinced executives into a global recall. Apparently, company employees started posting messages on the firm's e-bulletin board.
They were willing to trade in their shares of performance-based incentives scheduled for the end of the year so that Samsung would recall Galaxy Note 7 units. "Please exchange them with new ones after fully recalling all the devices sold. I will forego my share of the performance-based incentives, so please do so. I feel ashamed," an engineer of the company said.
Another said, "The company owes much to the customers who pre-ordered our phones or purchased them. Our future lies in how well we treat these loyal customers."
Many South Korean Note 7 owners won't accept refunds and would rather wait for replacements
Indeed, Samsung's decision comes from a place of honor and professionalism, while risking the company's financial situation, just so that users feel safe with their Note 7 phones. It was a bold and courageous move to launch a global recall of 2.5 million sold Note 7 units, considering the 0.0024% defectiveness rate, but ultimately, it should prove the company's respect for its customers.
In fact, a report from Yonhap News shows that any South Korean consumers who bought the Galaxy Note 7 are inclined to wait for a replacement than request a full refund. A local mobile carrier said that few customers requested a refund while most are expected to receive replacements.
One analyst said that customers with high confidence and loyalty tend to pre-order smartphones from a certain brand, and they are unlikely to find alternatives, so they would prefer to get a replacement.