By Martins Itua
Samsung announced yesterday that it is ending production of the Galaxy Note7 worldwide. This decision was prompted after reports that numerous devices exploded.
A report in The Verge quoted the company as saying: “Taking our customer’s safety as our highest priority, we have decided to halt sales and production of the Galaxy Note7.”
Analysts believe that the entire Note7 episode could cost the company as much as $17 billion. Its shares fell 8% yesterday, Tuesday October 11, 2016.
| The decision to end production came after Samsung had issued a statement saying it was shutting down sales and exchanges of the ill-fated Note7. |
In a statement to the Al-Jazeera network, Samsung said: “We recently readjusted the production volume for thorough investigation and quality control, but putting consumer safety as top priority, we have reached a final decision to halt production of Galaxy Note7.”
Samsung had launched the premium smartphone in August, with the company intending to use it to compete with Apple’s iPhone 7. Though it was well received, it initially faced shortages as pre-orders were much more than supply.
But soon after launch, images of charred Note7s began to appear on social media sites, giving the first indication that all was not well with the device.
