Samsung Electronics has been plagued by a series of woes recently related to its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 and patent battles with Apple.
Samsung halted the production of its Galaxy Note 7 on Monday after a number of replacement phones caught fire globally and the US major mobile carriers AT&T and T-Mobile stopped sales of the phones on the grounds of consumer safety.
“The production halts include Samsung’s plants in Vietnam, which are in charge of global supplies. The measure was taken for the safety of global consumers including in the US, China and Korea,” said one of Samsung’s partner firms, requesting anonymity.
The action was carried out in cooperation with state-run agencies including the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and Chinese regulatory committees, the company added.
Samsung Electronics declined to make any official comments.
Samsung Electronics’ countermeasures have invited criticisms here and abroad.
When the tech giant recalled the original devices in September, it funneled the responsibility to its affiliate and battery provider Samsung SDI, which had provided the batteries in question. The position, however, fell flat as follow-up cases of phones catching fire were replacements without SDI batteries.
Five such cases were reported in the US, along with one each in South Korea, China and Taiwan so far.
(Yonhap)
Analysts who previously estimated the tech giant’s earnings in the fourth quarter to be strong are also expected to revise down their predictions.
Lee Se-chul, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities, who initially estimated Samsung’s fourth quarter at 8.3 trillion won ($7.4 billion), said, “The prediction was made based on the solid performance from Samsung’s chip business. The figure is likely to be revised down because of the risk factors in Samsung Electronics’ internet and mobile division.”
Samsung Electronics’ stock price posted 1,676,000 won, down 1.76 percent from the previous day.
Apart from the Galaxy Note 7 woes, Samsung is also struggling from a patent battle with its arch smartphone rival Apple.
On Friday, the US federal appeals court reinstated a $120 million jury award for Apple against Samsung, saying the previous panel should not have overturned the verdict in February.
The latest ruling reinstated the 2012 verdict by a federal court in California that had ordered Samsung to pay Apple $119.6 million for violating the three patents.
“We are surprised by the decision from the US Court of Appeals,” Samsung said in its online newsroom, adding, it is looking carefully at the possibility of Supreme Court review.
(shinjh@heraldcorp.com)
