Samsung’s September-quarter earnings managed to beat estimates despite the current Galaxy Note 7 debacle thanks to strength in Samsung’s other divisions. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the long-term effects of Samsung’s Note 7 nightmare could be severe. The South Korean company’s latest flagship smartphone shipped with a defect in some units that has been causing them to explode, often injuring people and destroying property in the process. As a result, Samsung had no choice but to issue a global recall and replace the 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones it initially shipped to distributors.
The company has seemingly done its best to move quickly and replace potentially defective phones, but a new study suggests that a big chunk of users plan to abandon the brand regardless.
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Mobile e-commerce solutions provider Branding Brand conducted an online survey late last month in an effort to determine just how much of an impact the exploding Galaxy Note 7 debacle might have on Samsung. The online survey had 1,000 respondents, all of which were current Samsung phone owners who lived in the United States.
Among the respondents, a whopping 34% said that they would not buy another phone from Samsung in light of the issues that have faced the Note 7. Of those customers, an overwhelming majority — 81% — said that they have always owned Samsung phones or other Android phones in the past. Adding to the bad news for Samsung is the fact that this survey was conducted before news hit that a “safe” Galaxy Note 7 phone that was issued as a replacement burst into flames aboard an airplane earlier this week.
The survey found that 51% of respondents who are leaving Samsung plan to purchase an Android smartphone from another vendor. Meanwhile, 34% said that they planned to leave the Android ecosystem completely and instead purchase an iPhone.
