Samsung, the world's biggest smartphone manufacturer, has suffered an embarrassing setback with reports of its flagship device - the Galaxy Note 7 - catching fire while charging. The South Korean tech titan is conducting quality tests and has paused global sales.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was scheduled to go on sale in India on September 2, but the global recall has now pushed the launch date. Buyers who pre-booked the device have been notified about the delay and multiple Samsung retail stores have confirmed that the expected shipments of the Galaxy Note 7 haven't arrived. Currently there is no exact date or a timeframe when the handset will be available.
But Samsung has confirmed to BGR India that it will take up to two weeks to prepare all the replacement units following the global recall. The company did not reveal how many units have been recalled. But there have been several reports of the Galaxy Note 7 catching fire, crashing to an extent where the handset is rendered useless and even the display's Gorilla Glass 5 glass seems not immune to scratches despite what Corning claims.
That's a lot of issues for a flagship shortly after its release. And all of this comes at a time when Apple is just short of a few days from launching the 2016 flagships - iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. This gives an edge to Apple, Samsung's chief rival, in gaining the much-needed sales which suffered last year.
In terms of specifications, Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is a high-end machine with great selling points. It has a 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED dual-edged curved display, 12MP rear-facing camera with dual pixels technology, 5MP front snapper, a fingerprint scanner and an iris scanner for biometric authentication. Under the hood, it sports an Exynos 8890 octa-core processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB expandable storage. It is powered by a 3,500mAh battery and has a much improved S Pen stylus and IP68 certification.
In India, the Galaxy Note 7 is priced at Rs. 59,900. The new iPhones' release in a week will decide whether or not this price will make the Galaxy Note 7 prevail or take a backseat.
