Apple Shares Hit New High for 2016 as Samsung Considers Scrapping Note 7 [Update: Note 7 Officially Discontinued]

[lowendlinux]

How can I not be a fan, when my Apple products have worked better for me than any other brand out there?

And why else would people willingly shell out a premium for Apple devices, if not for superior hardware and software quality?

If anything, I would argue that Apple's profits are the direct result of them making the best products and getting them into the hands of as many consumers as possible.

Contrast this with Android, which just focuses on maximising the number of people who use them.

I think you're generalizing with that statement a bit to much. Very few people would say that Apple releases a substandard product in either HW or SW. Apple has also pushed mobile silicon harder than any than any company though Samsung is trying.

Before the iPhone Apple computers were niche and expensive and therefore desirable then came the iPhone with much fanfare and it let people own Apple for have the cost of a PowerBook so they bought. As Apple has expanded it's ecosystem the mobile world became vital to most people. Now that phones are ubiquitous and Mac's are cheaper there's no real need for people to jump ship and quite a bit of cost to do so.

Yes Apple makes nice stuff but that nice stuff isn't the reason IMHO that Apple still sells it's the confluence of many things that makes the environment what it is. You like your Apple stuff and aren't inclined to jump and I like my other and am not inclined to jump, there is now objective benefit to either of us to do so.

 

[Dave245]

I think what makes this a lot worse is that once is a mistake which is fair enough, anyone can make a mistake, but for Samsung to have reported that the issue was solved and to send out new Note 7's where the problem continued is really bad, where was quality control? the brand name will be damaged with the consumer, will people think twice in the future before buying a new Note device? even tho i'm an iPhone user after reading about all of this, there is no way that i would buy a Samsung device in the future! not because of the mistake they have made, but the fact that they didn't solve it before sending out new devices, they put consumers safety at risk, by knowing that the initial devices were catching fire and not solving the issue before sending out new ones. Just my opinion.

 

[yPree]

Couldn't imagine having to exchange my iPhone 7 Plus due to a recall only for my new device to catch on fire/explode.. how do you trust them after this? I wouldn't.

 

[Abazigal]

I think you're generalizing with that statement a bit to much. Very few people would say that Apple releases a substandard product in either HW or SW. Apple has also pushed mobile silicon harder than any than any company though Samsung is trying.

Before the iPhone Apple computers were niche and expensive and therefore desirable then came the iPhone with much fanfare and it let people own Apple for have the cost of a PowerBook so they bought. As Apple has expanded it's ecosystem the mobile world became vital to most people. Now that phones are ubiquitous and Mac's are cheaper there's no real need for people to jump ship and quite a bit of cost to do so.

Yes Apple makes nice stuff but that nice stuff isn't the reason IMHO that Apple still sells it's the confluence of many things that makes the environment what it is. You like your Apple stuff and aren't inclined to jump and I like my other and am not inclined to jump, there is now objective benefit to either of us to do so.

Perhaps. I can only speak from personal experience after all. Before I switched to Apple in 2011, I used windows PCs for close to 20 years, and it was generally a crappy experience. Windows OEMs shipped crappy software with crappy hardware and had crappy support and their utter disregard for the end user experience showed.

Apple showed me that I could have a piece of hardware which both looked great and worked great. I got my first Apple device - a 27” iMac in 2011 and I haven't looked back since. I remember the wonder of being able to annotate directly on a PDF file using the preview app, something which had always been a pain on Windows. I remember hooking my Apple TV up to the projector in my classroom and mirroring my iPad to it. I remember the thrill of being able to manipulate the whiteboard at the front of the classroom while being free to roam around the room. I remember the utility of the MagSafe connector when someone first tripped against my MacBook charger. I remember the sublime experience when I wrote my first sentence with the Apple Pencil. I remember when my iMac first developed screen problems and AppleCare took care of that without me needing to lift a finger on my part.

People ask me how I can be such a fan of Apple. I ask them - how can I not be. Apple products worked wonderfully for me and completely changed the way I did things at a time when frankly, all other alternatives sucked.

Win my loyalty with a solution which "just works", as Apple has done, and I will gladly follow you to hell and beyond. Windows had its chance, and it gave me a bad experience each and every time, and I am never going back to Windows even if the CEO of Microsoft knelt down in front of me and begged me personally. As for Android, well sorry, the iPhone just got to me first, and years of being battered by Android fanboys at Cnet and Engadget have generally just turned me off Android and made me even more certain that the iPhone is the smartphone of choice for me.

That's the kind of person I am. And frankly, until Apple screws up monumentally, I see myself an Apple user for a good long time to come. Windows would have to be 10 or even 100 times better to convince me to switch at this juncture.

 

[yPree]

Perhaps. I can only speak from personal experience after all. Before I switched to Apple in 2011, I used windows PCs for close to 20 years, and it was generally a crappy experience. Windows OEMs shipped crappy software with crappy hardware and had crappy support and their utter disregard for the end user experience showed.

This. Which is why I started building my own Windows rigs. You'll never see me with a laptop running any version of windows I'm not a fan. I grew up with laptops filled with bloatware and they got hot enough to cook an egg on it (S/O HP). Macbooks changed the laptop game for me. I still love windows though.

 

[Phil in ocala]

It'll be really interesting to see how this plays out. I wonder if Google will come in and take the #1 Android phone spot, or whether Samsung will hang in their thanks to the Galaxy S7/edge.

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I could not live on what SS pays me....my profits as an Apple Stock investor has saved me....if the younger Apple posters were smart...they would invest in apple stock instead of every new product that comes along....when you retire...that iPhone 7, 8 etc cannot feed you.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

I saw Apple become the most valuable company in the world.

You sure you are not living in some alternate universe where Steve Jobs never returned to Apple?

I'm most definitely not living in an alternate universe. Where I come from is the fact that I've observed how Apple was so focused and motivated under the late Jobs in contrast to Tim's tenure. If I'm not mistaken, Apple was already valuable before Tim took over the position.

There is a huge difference in attitude between today's Apple and the Apple from Job's era. Steve Jobs lit a fire under them so as to get moving or lose out. He wasn't perfect by all means but he knew when to bring the hammer down and force them to stay focused. He had vision and knew what he wanted out of the company.

And I suspect his motivation was straight through the roof when he returned to Apple in the late 1990s. When he got his company back in his hands, he cleaned house. I would've done the same thing.

He was driven. VERY driven. And especially more so when he probably found out from his doctor he didn't have much time left in his life. That would be enough to drive a person to the edge to see everything to the end.

Did Tim have that level of motivation? Not from what I'm seeing. And this is why in the last five years I've been wary and leery in how Apple has been going about its business, almost as if they were floundering around. I should also add that making Jony Ive the Chief Creative Officer is a huge mistake, even though this job position is not very common and a new trend in the creative industry. I've read that the CCO position is predicted to be phased out in the near future as its viewed to be inefficient.

Going for a new design language with a new head Industrial Designer would've been the right thing to do and let Jony go do his thing outside of the company. I've no doubt he's an excellent designer, BUT he should have gone independent some time after Jobs passed on, where he won't be shackled to Apple like a slave. If I were in his shoes I would be so burnt out that I'd want out and create something else.

I should know. I work in the creative industry.

 

[dk001]

I think what makes this a lot worse is that once is a mistake which is fair enough, anyone can make a mistake, but for Samsung to have reported that the issue was solved and to send out new Note 7's where the problem continued is really bad, where was quality control? the brand name will be damaged with the consumer, will people think twice in the future before buying a new Note device? even tho i'm an iPhone user after reading about all of this, there is no way that i would buy a Samsung device in the future! not because of the mistake they have made, but the fact that they didn't solve it before sending out new devices, they put consumers safety at risk, by knowing that the initial devices were catching fire and not solving the issue before sending out new ones. Just my opinion.

Your post, while likely the feeling/opinion of many, underscores the complete lack of understanding by most, how root cause analysis, short and long term fixes really work. Commonality and outliers when first examined can make it all to easy to draw the incorrect conclusion. Then add the government, investors, and public (including armchair analysts) who demand the answer now. What an environment ripe for media exploitation and consumer angst.

Do not rush to conclusions until all the facts are in. Sadly, most rush.

 

[the8thark]

Apple already is tops in terms of profit. Only question is - by how much?

That's the most important thing. In Business profit > sales/revenue. Business realise that but they like to brag about their high (but worthless) sales and revenue figures.

 

[bladerunner2000]

How can I not be a fan, when my Apple products have worked better for me than any other brand out there?

And why else would people willingly shell out a premium for Apple devices, if not for superior hardware and software quality?

If anything, I would argue that Apple's profits are the direct result of them making the best products and getting them into the hands of as many consumers as possible.

Contrast this with Android, which just focuses on maximising the number of people who use them.

Apple's hardware is not superior, LMAO.

 

[McCool71]

...and to send out new Note 7's where the problem continued is really bad, where was quality control?

The problem is that they have not been able to replicate the issue to pinpoint exactly what has happened. The obvious choice to solve it within reasonable time was of course to do changes to the battery. Now it seems that the battery alone is probably not the main culprit. It might be down to some freak accidental combination of failure of several components at the same time that happens so rarely that you would be extremely lucky to find it during testing.

The whole situation is very strange. After all they have phones like the S7 Edge that has a more powerful battery than the Note 7, and that seems to work very well after more than 6 months on the market. The components in S7 / S7 Edge / Note 7 are also largely the same. Apart from the Note 7 specific tech (eye sensor/pen) they are very similar, so that these issues only seem to happen to the Note 7 is truly bizarre.

No doubt a nightmare of epic proportions for Samsung.

 

[Solomani]

So true. One wonders why people cannot shut up about Google and Android outside their containment sub-forum. Truly pathetic.

The Google and Samsung fanatics have a clinical need to urinate on Apple forums and Apple fans/customers. It's like they can't sleep at night when they know there is at least one Apple customer is who unconditionally happy and 100% satisfied with his Apple devices. Maybe they find that spewing their open hatred of Apple (and contempt towards its most loyal customers) is therapeutic.

Among their ranks is one poster above to "wished death" upon Tim Cook or other Apple execs. He was reported, and it looks like his offending post was already deleted by the mods.

 

[dk001]

The problem is that they have not been able to replicate the issue to pinpoint exactly what has happened. The obvious choice to solve it within reasonable time was of course to do changes to the battery. Now it seems that the battery alone is probably not the main culprit. It might be down to some freak accidental combination of failure of several components at the same time that happens so rarely that you would be extremely lucky to find it during testing.

The whole situation is very strange. After all they have phones like the S7 Edge that has a more powerful battery than the Note 7, and that seems to work very well after more than 6 months on the market. The components in S7 / S7 Edge / Note 7 are also largely the same. Apart from the Note 7 specific tech (eye sensor/pen) they are very similar, so that these issues only seem to happen to the Note 7 is truly bizarre.

No doubt a nightmare of epic proportions for Samsung.

With the magnitude of engineering might Samsung can throw at this, and groups like the CPSC testing, the fact nobody has been able to scientifically replicate is very troubling. I can imagine all other smartphone manufacturers (including Apple) are keeping a very close watch on this.

 

[1=1?]

Samsung really really really self-destructed here. I love my galaxy but I'm not getting another samsung phone.

 

[Keebler]

Yea, really? I wouldn't be so smug.
http://bgr.com/2016/10/10/iphone-6-plus-explosions/

Oh my... crappy an iPhone 6 plus exploded, but I think we can agree that isn't the same level (as in a mass recall-hey-DO-NOT-USE-this-product!)

 

[Manderby]

I think it's sad.

Not because of Samsung, Google or Apple or a Brand or a name.

But because of technology, manpower and lots of resources being wasted.

 

[Solomani]

I think it's sad.

Not because of Samsung, Google or Apple or a Brand or a name.

But because of technology, manpower and lots of resources being wasted.

There's at least one giant landfill somewhere in Bangladesh or India…. that could be nicknamed The Galaxy Note 7 Graveyard.

 

[kdarling]

I think what makes this a lot worse is that once is a mistake which is fair enough, anyone can make a mistake, but for Samsung to have reported that the issue was solved and to send out new Note 7's where the problem continued is really bad, where was quality control?

First, it was "OMG they're not moving fast enough!" Now it's "OMG they moved too fast!". Forums, fickle is thy name

the brand name will be damaged with the consumer, will people think twice in the future before buying a new Note device?

According to Verizon's CEO, Note buyers are still loyal to Samsung and Android.

In fact, here's my bet: I bet that if someone figures out an easy fix for this, that the now no-longer-made Note 7 devices will become more popular than ever on places like eBay and Craigslist.

If all it takes is say, putting in a different battery with some special charging software, then heck I'll be in line as well.

even tho i'm an iPhone user after reading about all of this, there is no way that i would buy a Samsung device in the future! not because of the mistake they have made, but the fact that they didn't solve it before sending out new devices, they put consumers safety at risk, by knowing that the initial devices were catching fire and not solving the issue before sending out new ones. Just my opinion.

Obviously they didn't know it wasn't fixed, or they would've waited and saved themselves a ton of money later on.

Companies may be in a rush to please customers, but they're not crazy enough to send out billions of dollars of devices without believing they're fixed and there's no more future cost.

 

[dk001]

Samsung really really really self-destructed here. I love my galaxy but I'm not getting another samsung phone.

Actually, I am of the opposite mindset.
After a debacle like this, you can likely count on Samsung's quality to be a cut above.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

You sound like a certain presidential candidate I know...


As I said? Hmm... no. I said there should be plenty of Mac stuff to talk about since we're on the verge of a major release. If you're waiting until the product is released, it should be called "MacAfterTheFact" not "MacRumors." But all I've heard thus far are crickets...

You sound like a certain presidential candidate I know...


As I said? Hmm... no. I said there should be plenty of Mac stuff to talk about since we're on the verge of a major release. If you're waiting until the product is released, it should be called "MacAfterTheFact" not "MacRumors." But all I've heard thus far are crickets...

Well your wish has been granted her is your precious news about Macs.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-sales-continue-to-slide-amid-lack-of-updates.2006097/

 

[usarioclave]

With the magnitude of engineering might Samsung can throw at this, and groups like the CPSC testing, the fact nobody has been able to scientifically replicate is very troubling. I can imagine all other smartphone manufacturers (including Apple) are keeping a very close watch on this.

I wonder if it's some sort of case-related thermal problem?

 

[Dave245]

Your post, while likely the feeling/opinion of many, underscores the complete lack of understanding by most, how root cause analysis, short and long term fixes really work. Commonality and outliers when first examined can make it all to easy to draw the incorrect conclusion. Then add the government, investors, and public (including armchair analysts) who demand the answer now. What an environment ripe for media exploitation and consumer angst.

Do not rush to conclusions until all the facts are in. Sadly, most rush.

To be fair the main fact is that Samsung released a phone that catches fire and sometimes explodes. Now that can be seen as a mistake and I'm sure it was, but what's more damaging is the fact that they didn't solve the problem before sending out new Note 7's that were suppose to have been fixed. There is a danger here that someone could of been killed, it's a big problem.

 

[dk001]

To be fair the main fact is that Samsung released a phone that catches fire and sometimes explodes. Now that can be seen as a mistake and I'm sure it was, but what's more damaging is the fact that they didn't solve the problem before sending out new Note 7's that were suppose to have been fixed. There is a danger here that someone could of been killed, it's a big problem.

Can't agree. All the Samsung engineers and others (like the CPSC) looked at it and found a specific vendor battery was the common thread. Being unable to replicate the issue in the lab (still an issue to date) and recognizing the need for a quick resolution (from a corporate and safety perspective), the Samsung battery vendor was placed on hold and the Chinese vendor used. Recall issued and good units went out.
As we now see, this was not the "smoking gun" solution as thought and there are additional issues. The root cause has not been identified nor replicated. So Samsung made the decision to kill production.

What you allude to, and I challenge any engineering group to better, is to have a 100% quick fix solution for a non-replicatable issue. As for someone being killed, potential is always there for any battery powered device that goes up in smoke or flame. It happens to all OEM's of smartphones. Your comment is unnecessarily inflammatory.

 

[kissmo]

 

[Abazigal]

Can't agree. All the Samsung engineers and others (like the CPSC) looked at it and found a specific vendor battery was the common thread. Being unable to replicate the issue in the lab (still an issue to date) and recognizing the need for a quick resolution (from a corporate and safety perspective), the Samsung battery vendor was placed on hold and the Chinese vendor used. Recall issued and good units went out.
As we now see, this was not the "smoking gun" solution as thought and there are additional issues. The root cause has not been identified nor replicated. So Samsung made the decision to kill production.

What you allude to, and I challenge any engineering group to better, is to have a 100% quick fix solution for a non-replicatable issue. As for someone being killed, potential is always there for any battery powered device that goes up in smoke or flame. It happens to all OEM's of smartphones. Your comment is unnecessarily inflammatory.

If I get your response correctly, you are basically saying that Samsung didn't know what the problem was, and so randomly pointed their fingers at the battery. What is that if not playing Russian roulette with the safety of not only their consumers but that of the people around them as well?

In hindsight, Samsung should have recalled all their phones and issued any replacements. They didn't do so likely because they couldn't bear the prospect of losing profits and market share to Apple.

And now Samsung's greed and hypocrisy is open for all in the world to see.

As the saying goes - you reap what you sow.