Samsung – Residual fall-out.

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It is still the long-term damage that I fear. 

• While Samsung appears to have contained the disaster that was the Note 7, I remain concerned that the reputational damage could have an impact in market share in developed markets and especially at the high-end.
• Samsung has taken a massive $5.4bn hit to profits, apologized profusely for the recall and admitted shortcomings in its quality and assurance process but I don’t think that the full effects of this issue have fully hit home.
• This is because there is also the potential for market share and pricing pressure to materialise from the weakening of its brand and its reputation as a vendor of high quality consumer electronics.
• The first sign of this is in with a survey from Harris Poll which shows that Samsung reputation has fallen from No 7 in USA to No. 42, just one position above the US Postal Service.
• Apple and Google have remained pretty steady at no. 5 and 8 respectively but Samsung is now thought to be less reputable than Hewlett-Packard, GE and Sony, which are competitors that do date, Samsung has had no trouble in defeating.
• What concerns me is that when the Galaxy s8 and s8 edge are available, users in developed markets are likely to think a little bit harder before purchasing and may go so far as to consider something from LG, Google, Sony or Huawei.
• Hence, I think that Samsung will have to price the Galaxy s8 and s8 edge quite carefully as well as go on a major charm offensive to calm user fears that these products will suddenly burst into flames.
• I am certain that these products will be the safest that Samsung has ever made but that is not how the mindset of the average smartphone buyer operates.
• Both of these charm offensives will cost money in terms of pricing and marketing spend.
• The high-end devices that Samsung makes generate the majority of its handset profits and I am somewhat concerned that profits could suffer as the aftershocks of this disaster make themselves felt.
• This is why I have been cautious on Samsung since the problem with the Note 7 surfaced, and why I would be thinking of taking some profits following the recent excellent performance in the share price.