Samsung’s exploding-smartphone nightmare is getting worse and worse.
The South Korean electronics company has reportedly suspended production of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 smartphone following reports that multiple devices intended to replace defective phones have also malfunctioned – smoking, catching fire, or burning people.
(The company says it is “adjusting the production schedule to ensure quality and safety matters.”)
A global recall for any company is a disaster. The same problem cropping up in replacement products is a screwup of colossal proportions.
Samsung’s exploding-phone fiasco is all the more agonising for the company because the Note 7 had so much potential.
It was launched on August 19 to extremely positive reviews. Critics raved about the large-screen, premium device. After years of wobbly sales and falling profits, it looked as if the company were finally onto a winner.
And even better: Expectations for the iPhone 7, the newest phone from Samsung's archrival, Apple, were tepid. Only modest improvements - better camera, faster speeds, the controversial removal of the headphone jack - were expected, giving the Note 7 a real shot at being the smartphone of 2016.
Then the Note 7 devices started exploding.
Dozens of customers' devices malfunctioned, reportedly injuring children, destroying cars, and gutting hotel rooms.
Samsung initiated a global recall, a move that could cost the company billions of dollars, and began giving customers replacement devices.
But then they started exploding too.
One customer was hospitalised by a Note 7 - and Samsung thought about trying to 'slow him down'
Last week, news broke that a replacement Note 7 started smoking uncontrollably on a US Southwest Airlines flight before takeoff, burning through the carpet - an incident that could have been fatal had it taken place midflight.
Since then, The Verge has counted at least five reports (all from the US) of malfunctioning replacement Note 7 devices. One melted while being held by a 13-year-old girl; another set fire on a nightstand - hospitalising the owner because of smoke inhalation.
The owner who was hospitalised was in contact with a Samsung representative when the rep accidentally texted the person saying: "I can try and slow him down if we think it will matter, or we just let him do what he keeps threatening to do and see if he does it."
The implication is that Samsung was trying to stop the customer from speaking out - not a good look.
What's more, the customer said this all happened before the Southwest Airlines incident but that Samsung did nothing to publicly warn customers about possible risks posed by replacement Note 7 devices.
Carriers and smartphone sellers are now abandoning the Note 7. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon are all letting US customers return their replacement devices for different phones.
This is a godsend to Google
The timing for all this couldn't be better for Google.
Last week, the California-based technology giant announced its Pixel smartphone. It's a sleek, premium device clearly intended to go head-to-head with major high-end smartphone manufacturers like Apple - and Samsung.
The launch was peppered with sly digs and jokes at Apple's expense, on everything from the camera bump on the iPhone 7 to its lack of a headphone jack. And at £599 in the UK for the smaller, 32 GB model, it will have the same base price point as Apple's device.
But Samsung might prove the most fertile ground from which Google can steal customers.
After all, switching from one mobile platform (iOS) to another (Android) is a pretty big deal. You need to port over all your data, and there's no guarantee you'll get all the apps you want. But Samsung customers are already using Android, and they're already used to paying high prices for a premium device.
If you've historically been a Samsung customer, and you're in the market for a new phone, what are you going to do? Go for the phone that is exploding left, right, and centre - or the flashy new Google phone that's running the same underlying software?
The Note 7 could haunt Samsung's business for years
To recap: Samsung's biggest smartphone of the year has turned into the tech public-relations disaster of the decade, unexpectedly boosting key competitors and hospitalising customers in a catastrophe that even a billion-dollar recall hasn't been able to fix.
The Note 7 debacle seems likely to generate serious concerns (whether warranted or not) among customers about the quality of its other phones - something that could harm its financial prospects for years.
To put it bluntly, Samsung's reputation for quality is down the toilet.
It's no surprise then that there are multiple reports swirling that Samsung has halted suspension of the Note 7 altogether. The company told the BBC it was "adjusting the production schedule to ensure quality and safety matters" (and Business Insider has reached out for more information).
Because after all this, it's not clear who would ever still want to buy one.