Let's be honest. The Galaxy Note 7 was an absolute disaster for the company. Before the big release, the Note 7 was one of the most anticipated handsets of 2016. However, things went downhill pretty fast for Samsung. Following initial reports of overheating plus the subsequent recall and the arrival of the so called “safe units”, the company's PR team had come up with an inescapable issue. The company did what's best and ordered a full recall of all units, while the handset was never released in some parts of the world.
To put it in short, the Galaxy Note 7 was Samsung's worst nightmare. But what does that tell us about the future of the company? Well, we're already hearing about the lineup being permanently discontinued following September's debacle. While this would make sense to some degree, I personally don't think such a decision is warranted.
Let's have a look through the history books. About six years ago, Apple's iPhone 4 suffered from what was known back then as “Antennagate”. The issue was so widespread that Apple had to offer a free bumper case for the handset to avoid any network connectivity related problems. What was the successor like? Well, it sold like hot cakes, obviously. This was but a minor glitch in Apple's grand plans for the future, a company that makes the most profits in the mobile industry. The issue is definitely not comparable to the Galaxy Note 7, which had to go through a recall on account of being a safety hazard.
But the customers, whether neutral or biased, need to understand that a mistake like this will not be repeated. Samsung has lost billions on the Galaxy Note 7, and to jump to conclusions that every subsequent Note flagship will see the same fate is a tad premature. Sure, it won't be easy for Samsung to come back from this. The upcoming Galaxy S8 flagship will give us a better understanding of how the public sees the company. But come September 2017, I would still like to see a Galaxy Note 8 with state of the art hardware on board. Basically, I would like to see all the features that made the Galaxy Note 7 a fantastic device, barring the obvious.
In times like these, it's quite hard to remember the good things about a failing device. That's human nature, after all. But if we get to see an attractive flagship with the new Grace UX and a collection of Samsung-specific features that you cannot find elsewhere, we're sure the market will only respond positively. There will be skeptics, of course, and there should be, but the perfect answer to any critic is a comeback. A recent poll has shown that the company's reputation hasn't been damaged much by this particular issue, so things don't look that bleak for Samsung just yet.
If you're currently looking for a decent alternative for the Galaxy Note 7 without giving up on the Samsung ecosystem, you might want to check out this list.
