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[giga]

Earlier this year, managers at the South Korean company began hearing the next iPhone wouldn’t have any eye-popping innovations. The device would look just like the previous two models too. It sounded like a potential opening for Samsung to leap ahead.

So the top brass at Samsung Electronics Co., including phone chief D.J. Koh, decided to accelerate the launch of a new phone they were confident would dazzle consumers and capitalize on the opportunity, according to people familiar with the matter. They pushed suppliers to meet tighter deadlines, despite loads of new features, another person with direct knowledge said. The Note 7 would have a high-resolution screen that wraps around the edges, iris-recognition security and a more powerful, faster-charging battery. Apple’s taunts that Samsung was a copycat would be silenced for good.

Then it all backfired. Just days after Samsung introduced the Note 7 in August, reports surfaced online that the phone’s batteries were bursting into flame. By the end of the month, there were dozens of fires and Samsung was rushing to understand what went wrong. On Sept. 2, Koh held a grim press conference in Seoul where he announced Samsung would replace all 2.5 million phones shipped so far. What was supposed to be triumph had turned into a fiasco.

Details:

Koh faced not just intensifying competition with Apple but slower growth as the whole smartphone market became saturated. When Samsung became aware that Apple didn’t plan any major design changes, the Korean executives saw an opportunity. After a select group of top managers got their hands on early versions of the Note, they gushed over the upgrades and praised each other’s work, according to one of the people. If Apple wasn’t going to offer consumers anything exciting, Samsung certainly would.

With Chairman Lee in the hospital, the younger Lee and co-vice chairman G.S. Choi huddled with Koh and executives of other Samsung affiliates, which make semiconductors, glass panels and batteries. They went ahead with a slew of new features that had been on the company’s product road map, including an improved screen and stylus -- and then approved a launch date 10 days earlier than last year, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. Samsung’s unveiling was Aug. 3 this year, compared with Aug. 13 last year.

The battery is a critical component. Smartphone makers have been pushing the boundaries of the technology for years as they try to satisfy consumer demands for long-lasting devices that charge faster and handle more features. That increases manufacturing challenges and raises the risks of defects.
Samsung opted to give the Note 7 a 3500 milliampere hour battery compared with 3000 mAh for the previous model. For comparison, the iPhone 7 Plus has a 2900 mAh battery. The main battery supplier for the Note 7 was Samsung SDI Co., a person with knowledge of the matter has said. The company, founded in 1970 and 20 percent owned by Samsung Electronics, makes batteries for other phone-makers too, including Apple.

As the launch date approached, employees at Samsung and suppliers stretched their work hours and made do with less sleep. Though it’s not unusual to have a scramble, suppliers were under more pressure than usual this time around and were pushed harder than by other customers, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. One supplier said it was particularly challenging to work with Samsung employees this time around, as they repeatedly changed their minds about specs and work flow. Some Samsung workers began sleeping in the office to avoid time lost in commuting, the supplier said. Samsung declined to comment on whether deadlines were moved, reiterating that products are only introduced after proper testing.
Still, by August, it looked like Samsung had made it.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...n-in-rush-to-capitalize-on-uninspiring-iphone

 

[Blablurn]

Guess things didn't work out as planned for Samsung. Sad display all in all.

 

[VeeP]

Geez, they really messed up. This was the year they could really snatch Apple's glory.

 

[Toki767]

It was a year after the Note 5 though. Doesn't seem that rushed.

 

[Otakumegane]

Wasn't there a very similar situation around 3 years ago where one company tried to capitalize doing something radically new compared to the competition and it ended up backfiring and so the other company won not by doing anything innovative but by the other company floundering?

I wonder what kind of parallels can be drawn from this?

 

[Baroquemantic]

I wonder what went wrong from the S7(e) to the Note 7 since the former doesn't have the battery issues.

 

[a Master Ninja]

It's like the rushed Xbox 360 and the RROD, except death is actually a possibility.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

The Note 7 was a well-reviewed device too and it was selling well, with over 2.5 million phones in customer hands before the recall. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[HeisenbergLannister]

QA is there for a reason.

Now instead of potentially stealing the spotlight from Apple, they've allowed another company to perhaps come in and snatch Samsung's spot.

All because higher-ups get greedy and want to cut corners and rush things.

I'm sure those same higher-ups will get a lovely compensation if they are forced out over this.

 

[MThanded]

Samsung, you played yourself.

 

[Rabbi_Vole]

They're done.

 

[Log4Girlz]

Well, it was certainly exciting

 

[RoKKeR]

Yet they had the S7 Edge that was already performing well... Why rush? Just fire up the marketing for the S7 again.

Pretty embarrassing, they had a great phone earlier this year.

 

[badb0y]

If Samsung wanted to wreck Apple this was the year to do it. According to rumor reports and analyst prediction, Apple about to go HAM on the iPhone's 10th anniversary.

 

[Vicetrailia]

Executives fucked up so bad. You know that you can't just do these things in manufacturing.

 

[Your Entertainer]

Cool specs on paper, but the attention payed to usability and overall cohesiveness of the user experience is another story.

 

[random25]

They already snatched the glory with the S7/edge. Too bad they gave it back to Apple for free after that Note 7 mess.

 

[D4Danger]

decided to accelerate the launch of a new phone they were confident would dazzle consumers

nobody cares.

 

[Futureman]

So why did the batteries explode? Is it really because it was a little rushed?

 

[giga]

So why did the batteries explode? Is it really because it was a little rushed?

"The initial conclusions indicated an error in production that put pressure on plates within the battery cells. That in turn brought negative and positive poles into contact, triggering excessive heat that caused the battery to explode."

 

[IdreamofHIME]

Their plan literally blew up in their face.

 

[leng jai]

Isn't the main competitor to the iPhone the S7/Edge though? I don't get this.

 

[darkwing]

the S7 brand has been tarnished, my S7 Edge looks like a Note 7 and so people have been telling me it will explode lol

 

[secretanchitman]

S7 series as a brand is no good anymore. They need to start fresh and win the trust of everyone again with the S8 (or maybe even a new name).

 

[adamsappel]

Is the battery the only casualty of the rushed schedule? Do all the other innovations work perfectly?

 

[Spyder_Monkey]

Will this mean that One Plus finally has a chance?

 

[Concept17]

LG is best anyway.

 

[icespide]

Will this mean that One Plus finally has a chance?

no

 

[Eusis]

Geez, they really messed up. This was the year they could really snatch Apple's glory.

Waiting until launch would've been more effective anyway I'd think. Be more careful to avoid something like the battery situation, and be able to actively position themselves as the one that actually lets you just plug your damn headphones in.

 

[The Faceless Master]

August 21, 2015 = Note 5 release date


August 19, 2016 = Note 7 release date


but don't let facts get in the way of a good story


The Note 5 was what was rushed.


They pushed that one out 10 months after the October 17, 2014 launch of the Note 4 so they could get their cycle ahead.

 

[MThanded]

August 21, 2015 = Note 5 release date


August 19, 2016 = Note 7 release date


but don't let facts get in the way of a good story


The Note 5 was what was rushed.


They pushed that one out 10 months after the October 17, 2014 launch of the Note 4 so they could get their cycle ahead.

It's an even worse look if it wasn't rushed and they still botched the phone.

 

[Fhtagn]

It's an even worse look if it wasn't rushed and they still botched the phone.

They obviously had a too ambitious schedule if people were sleeping at the office to save time on commuting.

There's a reason one hears about certain Apple rumors a couple years ahead, and it's cuz real advances take time.

They had a year but they had more than a year's worth of design and logistics to handle, apparently.

 

[Link]

If Samsung wanted to wreck Apple this was the year to do it. According to rumor reports and analyst prediction, Apple about to go HAM on the iPhone's 10th anniversary.

Yep, that's why I held off upgrading this year.

 

[demon]

I read the thread title 3 times until I realized it wasn't about the band Rush.

 

[The Faceless Master]

It's an even worse look if it wasn't rushed and they still botched the phone.

a parts supplier had a defective part with a failure rate of less than a tenth of a percent.

i guess that's as botched as all of those cars with Takata airbags...

*shrug*

 

[dallow_bg]

a parts supplier had a defective part with a failure rate of less than a tenth of a percent.

i guess that's as botched as all of those cars with Takata airbags...

*shrug*

Isn't that high for this kind of product/volume?
What's the usual tolerance?

 

[Chumly]

Isn't that high for this kind of product/volume?
What's the usual tolerance?

It's catastrophically high. That might be an acceptable defect rate for like a paint job but for a critical battery problem the defect rate would be effectively 0 ( a hell of a lot lower than that)

 

[MThanded]

a parts supplier had a defective part with a failure rate of less than a tenth of a percent.

i guess that's as botched as all of those cars with Takata airbags...

*shrug*

This is a very high failure rate. Independent of the failure rate, the failure state is the issue. A phone getting hot is one thing but a phone burning people and vehicles/houses is another.

Samsung messed up and should learn from this lesson.

 

[Dr. Feel Good]

As the market continues to stagnant I wouldn't be shocked at all if this is the turning point where Samsung begins to become irrelevant similar to back in the day with Nokia. They have made so many fuck ups in recent years.

 

[Zok310]

They better not have any more issues going forward, they might not be able to get back up if they do.

 

[Bruce Springsteen]

Their plan literally blew up in their face.

Their plan literally did not blow up in their face