However we all know how that turned out, but prior to the Note 7 handsets being recalled, it seemed that Samsung’s strategy was working. According to a report from Fierce Wireless, it turns out that the sales of the Note 7 was actually 25% up over last year’s Note 5 which is a rather impressive feat, and we reckon those numbers could potentially have been higher had the phone not encountered any issues.
According to BayStreet Research’s Cliff Maldonado, “We have now lowered our Note 7 forecast to ~60% of the Note 5 and are closely tracking how long consumer’s memories are regarding this unfortunate incident. Best case, this is similar to an automobile recall and quickly forgotten with the new / replacement item viewed as safer than before. Worse case, this is remembered like the quality of Siri or Apple Maps and very difficult for consumers to forget.”
Yikes, assuming that BayStreet Research’s numbers are any accurate, they seem to believe that following the recall, Samsung won’t even be able to match the Note 5’s numbers from last year. We suppose it is what it is, and last we heard, Samsung could be planning to launch the Galaxy S8 earlier to try and make customers forget about the Note 7 fiasco.