Samsung Changing Galaxy Note 7 Color and Market Combinations

Samsung’s recall of the Galaxy Note 7, as a result of exploding batteries, has been well documented over the last week and the company is scrambling to make amends. In the short term, it must replace all potentially dangerous devices as a matter of priority but in the medium term, the company needs to plan for keeping the sales momentum. A report from Korea suggests that Samsung will mix up the colors it currently and will be offering the device in across the world. To date, Samsung has used different color options on its various Galaxy flagship models to keep demand up: at launch, one or two colors of a particular device are available in a given market and after a few months, another color or two might be made available.

The first example is that Samsung is now planning on releasing the Black Onyx Samsung Galaxy Note 7 into the South Korean market in October. The company originally had no plans to release the black Note 7 into the South Korean market reportedly because it wanted to differentiate the phablet from Apple’s offering but also because it wanted to keep interest in the Note 7 over the coming months. An unnamed source explained that in South Korea, Samsung believes there is considerable demand for Onyx Black, but it had held off releasing this color (instead allowing it to be sold in other countries around the world) such that when it does release this variant, it will generate renewed interest (and of course, sales). For the United States, it is believed that the Gold Platinum color won’t initially be released. China is not going to get Silver Titanium and India won’t be receiving Coral Blue. These colors and markets may be made available in the coming weeks sooner than Samsung’s original plans.In the short term, it appears that Samsung has a lot of making up to do, but it is likely that in the next few months customers will have forgotten about exploding Note 7 devices damaging hotel rooms and causing small fires. It seems difficult to imagine the release of a new color model will generate the same amount of news as either the original device announcement or the exploding battery cell recall, but for the customers waiting for a particular color variant to arrive in their home market, this could be good news.