What initially seemed to be a technical glitch in a few devices swiftly turned into a full-blown crisis that looks set to inflict incalculable damage on the South Korean electronics powerhouse in a market where brand confidence and loyalty are paramount.
So serious did the problem become with the Galaxy Note 7 and its exploding batteries that Samsung finally bit the bullet Tuesday and announced it was scrapping the model entirely.
The move could have devastating consequences given that the large-sized Note series, along with the Galaxy S smartphones, are Samsung's flagship bearers in the fierce battle with arch-rival Apple's iPhones for supremacy in the high-end handset market.
But the wheels came off the whole recall process as reports emerged of replacement phones also catching fire, prompting a number of major global distributors to halt all sales and exchanges of the device.
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"This is the worst-case scenario for Samsung," said Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research.
"To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: To lose one version of a product to a battery issue may be considered misfortune; to lose two begins to look like carelessness," Dawson said.
Samsung Electronics' mobile division may have driven its global rise, but the vast company is extremely diverse with a product line ranging from memory chips and display panels to washing machines, TVs and fridges.
Its success has been built, in large part, on its ability to marry cutting-edge technology with large-scale output to produce reliable, high-quality goods across a wide price range.
The initial recall of the Note 7 alone was always bound to have some brand impact, but it would have been limited if the problem was perceived as an exception.
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