Samsung disappointed fans with the fire-prone Galaxy Note 7, but the company did recall and terminate the product rather swiftly. It also conducted an extensive investigation and announced its conclusions while simultaneously vowing not to let it happen again. While Samsung does deserve some points for that, it’s probably too early for the company to pat itself on the back for the good job it’s doing at testing smartphones and making sure they work as intended, rather than exploding when you least expect it.
Samsung earlier this week published a short one-minute video on YouTube to promote the extensive quality assurance testing practices it currently employs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkmp8SmtXSg
The Galaxy Note 7 batteries were signaled out as the main problem that caused various fires and explosions. But Samsung’s design choices and the desire to launch the phone as soon as possible also favored those explosions. Samsung explained all that a few weeks ago, promising more extensive tests are coming. Is that what we see in this clip? Are these the new tests? If so, that’s not really clear.
“Our phones are extensively tested, retested, and then tested again,” the video says. Wait a minute, Samsung! Do you mean all phones you’ve ever made are tested like that or just all the phones made after the Galaxy Note 7? Because you seem to imply you weren’t focusing that much on quality assurance before the scandal.
“Innovation is our legacy,” the video says at the end, “Quality is our priority.” Again, these statements also seem to suggest that quality may have not been Samsung’s top priority before the recent scandal, given the massive issues with the phone’s batteries.
It’s great to see the Galaxy S7 phones in the videos being put through numerous tests during Samsung’s new quality assurance process, and I’m convinced Samsung doesn’t want to see any of its next-gen handsets explode like the Galaxy Note 7 did. But good-looking video scenes and great beats shouldn’t be enough to prove Samsung is serious about quality assurance. It’s actual real-life use from satisfied customers that will determine that. So maybe it’s too early for Samsung to advertise its own innovations in quality assurance.
