Aftermath in China
The South China Morning Post reported on September 25 that 51.9 percent of Chinese responded they would not purchase Samsung smartphones in a survey conducted after the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 explosions.
A study released last week by mobile internet consulting firm iiMedia Research showed that 51.9 percent of 12,000 mainland survey respondents said they would not buy Samsung smartphones in light of the Note 7 exploding battery incidents. Some 37 percent said they would consider buying an iPhone to replace their Samsung smartphone, while 26.3 percent said they would purchase a Huawei handset as replacement.
Experts predicted that sales of Samsung smartphones would rapidly drop and benefit rivals Huawei Technologies, Oppo Electronics, Xiaomi and Apple on the mainland.
According to a technology research firm IDC, Samsung was listed sixth in terms of smartphone market share in China last quarter with 6 percent.
Samsung Electronics acknowledged fault in battery of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone and said it would replace 2.5 million new high-end smartphones on the 2nd.
However, the initiative did not cover the mainland and Hong Kong, where Samsung claimed it sells Note 7 units with non-defective batteries from Chinese supplier Amperex Technology Limited, instead of defective batteries from Samsung SDI. In this regard, Chinese consumers strongly resisted Samsung’s decision.
Experts said that the Galaxy Note 7 global recall would further affect Samsung’s market share of the premium smartphone market in China.