Samsung's
recall of over 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones following explosions
may have been at least partially caused by an effort to beat and
out-innovate Apple in the marketplace.
According to a lengthy report from Bloomberg
that cites "people familiar with the matter," Samsung caught wind that
the iPhone 7 wouldn't be all that different from its predecessor, giving
the Korean company an opportunity to leap ahead as an innovator. So it
reportedly rushed its Note 7 to market.
Samsung
reportedly held extremely tight deadlines for its suppliers and its own
engineers and chose to pack the phone with features, including an iris
scanner, edge-to-edge display and a 3900mAh battery in a very thin
frame.
The
Note 7 hit the market before the iPhone 7, and to much acclaim. In our
review, editor-in-chief Mark Spoonauer wrote that "[i]f you want a phone
with a big screen, the Galaxy Note 7 should be at the top of your
list."
Then
the batteries started exploding. According to the Bloomberg report, the
phone division was internally pointing fingers at Samsung SDI, which
produced the batteries
On September 15, the day before the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus' wide release, Samsung officially recalled the Note 7. The company will have units back on shelves on September 21.
Tom's
Guide has reached out to Samsung to ask about the company's response to
the report and how many phones are still waiting to be returned. We'll
update this article if and when we get a response.
This morning, the Associated Press reported that
two Galaxy Note 7 phones caught fire in China. Those are the first
instances of this type of problem in what is now the biggest smartphone
market in the world. The company had previously claimed that models sold
in China were safe..............................................................................
