It is believed that in addition to direct losses associated with Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and compensation to consumers, Samsung will suffer and indirect losses, including costs of reputational nature .
Let's start with the fact that representatives of the SDI, which supplied smartphones this model batteries initially, say on the unique combination of materials and technology used in their manufacture. All forces were sent to increase battery capacity, the achievement of this objective could justify the risk of reduced reliability. But everything turned out differently.
Samsung had to introduce additional procedures for checking the quality of the batteries supplied by customers, that even increased delivery times and caused a temporary shortage. Other models of smart phones brand use batteries with a combination of traditional techniques and materials, claims to their reliability is not more than to any other lithium-ion batteries.
SDI has lost a fifth of its market capitalization, and the operating loss for the third quarter is twice higher than in the third quarter of last year. Clients of the company, according to its representatives, began increasingly to seek additional guarantees reliability supplied batteries. At SDI, accounting for nearly a quarter of the battery market for compact mobile devices, and the scandal with Galaxy Note 7 may cause difficulty in attracting new customers to the company.
One of SDI customers in the automotive direction (lithium-ion cells are used in traction batteries of electric cars and hybrids) admitted that even differences in the type of the supplied batteries for electric vehicles and smart phones do not allow customers to get rid of anxiety. How this will affect the position of the batteries in the automotive components segment SDI, difficult to predict.