Samsung’s disastrous Note 7 debacle — in which exploding handsets caused the company to withdraw all 2.5 million handsets already shipped — was reportedly the result of rushing to beat Apple.
According to a new report, Samsung saw an opportunity to capitalize on what it felt was likely to be a comparatively boring iPhone 7, and decided to break speed records unveiling a phone it thought could appeal to disappointed would-be iPhone customers.
Bloomberg says Samsung “pushed suppliers to meet tighter deadlines, despite loads of new features, [a] person with direct knowledge said.”
The article details the manic process:
“As the launch date approached, employees at Samsung and suppliers stretched their work hours and made do with less sleep. Though it’s not unusual to have a scramble, suppliers were under more pressure than usual this time around and were pushed harder than by other customers, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
One supplier said it was particularly challenging to work with Samsung employees this time, as they repeatedly changed their minds about specs and work flow. Some Samsung workers began sleeping in the office to avoid time lost in commuting, the supplier said.”
In the end, of course, it’s all been for naught. The Galaxy Note 7 picked up very positive reviews for its features, but won’t be remembered as “that great Samsung phone” so much as “that phone which caught fire and, among other disasters, torched a family’s Jeep.”
The iPhone 7, meanwhile, continued to deliver on Apple’s strategy of underpromising and overdelivering, and few people are now seriously calling the handset refresh a disappointment.
In all, if today’s report is correct, it’s another example of shady Samsung business practices in order to gain a competitive edge. Only instead of simply involving corporate skullduggery, this incident had the potential to seriously harm customers.
Has your faith in Samsung changed at all during the Note 7 saga? Leave your comments below.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
3 responses to “Exploding Note 7 blamed on Samsung’s rush to beat Apple”
It appears that the Florida jeep burning was not caused by a Note 7 according to local investigators
And Apple and Samsung both have so called shady business practices
Apple is sitting on $200 billion of cash in off shore accounts to evade taxes
It pays 1 million Pegatron workers in China about $1.60 an hour and houses them in dormitories that certainly do not reflect favorably on a $700 billion market cap corporation.
Even Samsung has been forced to acknowledge the significant safety defect – that has caused almost 100 fires or explosions in the US so far.
Since when have the shady business practices you allege against Apple caused phones to burn end explode?
Unsupported mindless drivel by fandroid like yourself do not change the fact that Samsung has been reckless with the safety of millions of people by releasing another piece of junk that is so shoddily built it risks peoples’ lives.
As far as paying workers in China – you obviously know nothing of wages there. The work Apple provides is far above average for Chinese factory workers. Certainly much better than the work they can get making shoddy parts for android junk phones.
How is the Galaxy Note 7 junk? It’s probably the best phone ever made.
1440p AMOLED display with 518ppi
4GB LPDDR4 RAM
f/1.7, OIS camera
microSD with 256GB expandable
Exynos 8890 Octacore/SD820
IP68
I like iOS and am impressed by the TSMC A10 AP. But overall, Apple hardware is midrange. LGD uses its best IPS LCD for the G5 and V20 not the iP7/iP7+