Samsung Galaxy Note 7- Is it All Bad?

During the last month or so we have been listening and reading news about the fallout of the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Even maybe some of you have experienced first hand the issues with the battery of the phone exploding, being drained while charging and so on.

The issues with Galaxy Note 7 have definitely affected many consumers and the company. In the study of Business management students have to learn how to develop SWOT analysis and the Galaxy Note 7 situation makes for a good SWOT. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths and Weaknesses are internal factors to a company (which means the company has control over those as they arise from the internal environment) and Opportunities and Threats are external factors (which means the company has less control over those factors as they arise from the external environment).

In this post entry I will try to look closely at Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and apply the SWOT analysis in the midst of the current crisis. What are the strengths of Galaxy Note 7? Bigger battery, water resistant which is a consistent feature of the Samsung phones but this time also the pen is water resistant, bigger storage space, more comfortable design, Smart Switch allows for seamless transfer of data from older Samsung phone, widely accepted OS. So far so good. What are its weaknesses? Well, battery explodes, battery drainage while charging. Something that the Samsung website does not tell the consumers but consumers have found out fast and not in the most pleasant way, it seems.

Opportunities? One may think that with the recent incidents of Galaxy Note 7 battery exploding there are no opportunities for this phone. Who wants a phone that explodes in their pocket and causes them injuries from burning? Even airlines banned the phone from being charged on their flights. But the recall of the Samsung company of all Galaxy Note 7 phone has given some opportunities of Samsung. With the recall and the fact that they have shown responsibility to their consumers the Samsung company enhances positively its image and the image of  Samsung phones among their customers. The loyal Samsung customers will certainly wait for the improved version of Galaxy Note 7. As reports have shown those customers are mainly in the domestic market South Korea as there are still more than 200 000 sold Galaxy Note 7 phones that have not been returned. Which for sure shows loyalty to the brand and the affection that consumers have to the Galaxy Note 7 phone.

Threats: The incidents of exploding batteries, a Jeep catching fire from a Galaxy Note 7 being left inside to charge, have presented the phone in a bad light. And the biggest competitor of Samsung has embraced this and launched its new iPhone 7 on 7^th September. The rush of Samsung to release Galaxy Note 7 before iPhone 7 turned into a huge financial  losses for Samsung and gains for Apple on the stock market where the company’s stocks increased in value.

The Galaxy Note 7 issues may have pushed consumers to iPhone devices but this is to be seen on the following months. Meanwhile I will continue using my Sony!