The Galaxy Note 7 died earlier this week after an unsuccessful attempt from Samsung to rescue the flailing flagship. And it may have taken the entire Note series with it, as Samsung is supposedly contemplating the possibility of killing off the Galaxy Note brand altogether. So don’t get your hopes up just yet for a Galaxy Note 8 to hit stores next year.
DON’T MISS: The end of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 saga is really only the beginning
The Galaxy Note 7 has done tremendous damage to Samsung’s image, and it’s likely that consumers will associate the Note name with exploding batteries and scary fires for some time to come.
“Samsung is recommended to drop the Note brand as consumers may still find it dangerous even when the new Note 8 comes out,” Korea-Insight Institute vice president Kim Duk-jin told The Korea Herald.
The perception of the Galaxy Note 7 has changed significantly since its August launch, even in Samsung’s home of South Korea. The institute says that negative perception rose to 53% in October, up from 34% in August when the phone was released. Favorable opinions dropped from 62% to 42% over the same period. The data comes from Konan Technology, a firm that analyzes social network messages.
The Note brand might be going away entirely — although there’s no confirmation from Samsung at this point — but the company is likely to retain the Galaxy brand, which still obviously has tremendous value. All eyes are on Samsung now, and experts in Korea say that the first thing the giant corporation has to do is to find out what caused the Galaxy Note 7 explosions and come clean.
“Samsung should first accurately find out what led to the explosions and honestly disclose them to consumers. If the design was the problem, thorough investigation should be carried out before launching the Galaxy S8,” KAIST College of Business professor Lee Byung-tae told the Herald.
“As the hasty launch of the Galaxy Note 7 has been said to have contributed to the crisis this time, Samsung should not feel rushed to unveil new features for Galaxy S8,” an unnamed industry source added.
Recent reports claimed that Samsung is preparing two Galaxy S8 versions for late February, including a regular model and a phablet version. A Galaxy S8 Plus complete with S Pen support could always replace the Galaxy Note series, of course. More shaky rumors have also suggested that Samsung is working on a third type of flagship smartphone that would have a bendable screen.
