Samsung, the South Korean electronics giant, was flying high as it prepared to launch the Galaxy Note 7[1] smartphone in late summer 2016. Already the world's largest smartphone maker, Samsung's[2] move to phones with larger screens countered the perception that it wasn't as creative as its archrival Apple[3].
Reviews of the Note 7 - a 5.7-inch, stylus-toting high-end smartphone aimed at workaholics - glowed ahead of its August launch date.
Then disaster struck. Within weeks of the launch, Samsung's customers in South Korea reported that the phones were catching fire[4]. Some had even exploded. By September 2, the company stopped producing the phone and was sending replacements. Its business was buckling: Samsung quickly lost $26 billion in value in the stock market.
It got worse. A U.S. government recall followed on September 12; a second came in October when the replacement units had the same incendiary issues. Analysts estimated the setback would cost the company $17 billion in sales, adding that if the crisis didn't sink Samsung's mobile business, it would almost certainly kill the Note line.
But now, just 18 months later, it seems that Samsung, and the rest of the world, have shrugged off the crisis. Its next phone - the Galaxy S9[5], set to debut on Sunday in Barcelona - is expected to be a foil to Apple's iPhone X[6]. Most of the buzz about it centres on the quality of its camera rather than the integrity of its battery.
Somehow, the past two years at Samsung - which also saw the company's de facto chairman, Jay Y. Lee, arrested in a bribery scandal that took down South Korea's president - have not been...