Samsung announced the recall of its latest flagship smartphone on September 2, with the intention to replace about 2.5 million smartphones sold worldwide. The company has almost completed the product exchange program, with 90% of Note 7 owners opting for a replacement and not a full refund.
This is surely encouraging for the company, considering that sales of the Galaxy Note 7 have just restarted in its home country, South Korea. According to a recent report, the company managed to sell 30,000 Galaxy Note 7 units in just two days and retailers call the product “a hit”.
A new report by Korea Herald reveals that the Samsung Galaxy brand retained its top position in an index of top 100 Korean brands in Q3. Brand Stock showed that the Samsung Galaxy brand scored 912.1 points on the Top Index, followed closely by local retail store E-Mart and mobile messaging service KakaoTalk with 908.5 points and 903.4 points, respectively.
Samsung’s Q3 earnings might not be affected by the recall
About one month ago, Samsung stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7 and announced a voluntary global recall of its latest flagship smartphone. The index shows that Samsung played its cards right and didn’t lose consumer trust in the brand.
Recently, Samsung announced that 90% of Note 7 customers have opted for exchanging the smartphone with a safe unit, rather than getting a full refund.
But the situation isn’t the same worldwide, the Chinese state TV station recently criticized Samsung for the way it handled the recall in the country, saying that customers weren’t properly informed as to why China wasn’t included in the product exchange program.
Another recent report by Korea Herald shows that Samsung is expected to post stable Q3 earnings, despite the Note 7 recall. The company might post operating profits of $6.79 billion, down 6% compared to the previous quarter. Analysts say that the damage caused by the Galaxy Note 7 recall was expected to be higher. Samsung is expected to post financial results for the Q3 soon.
