Samsung Recalls the Flagship Galaxy Note 7 - Just Weeks After Launch

More than one million of Samsung's flagship new smartphone - the Galaxy Note 7 - have been sold in 10 countries since its launch two weeks ago. Now they all have to be returned and sales elsewhere suspended whilst Samsung investigates over 30 cases of exploding batteries in the new phone.

This short video from the FT explains why the recall of the Galaxy note 7 is important for Samsung, whose share price had risen strongly in recent months.

Might the effect of the product recall be relatively short-term for Samsung?

One upside is that the battery problem has been discovered relatively early; just weeks after launch. Around 2.5 million of the phones have been manufactured so far, with 1 million now in consumer's hands. The battery problem does not affect China, where the phone uses a battery supplied by a different supplier.

The longer term issue might be reputational damage. By moving quickly, Samsung may be able to limit this too.