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Smartphones
AbacusTech

Four reasons why Samsung’s smartphones are flopping in China

The world’s largest smartphone maker can’t crack the world’s largest smartphone market

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A Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, pictured after its battery exploded. (Picture: AFP)
Josh Ye
This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Five years ago, Samsung phones were everywhere in China.

In 2013, the Korean giant’s market share was 20%, according to IDC. Now it’s just 2%.

But the company’s plummeting sales in China weren’t matched by its performance outside the country -- Samsung remains number one worldwide. So how did the world’s largest smartphone maker lose its way in the world’s biggest smartphone market?

EXPLODING BATTERIES

One easy answer would be the Galaxy Note 7 battery crisis. As bad as that situation was for Samsung, it was even worse in China.

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The company told Chinese consumers the phone was safe as it was recalling the handset elsewhere. After phones started catching fire in China, Samsung was forced to recall the phone there too. But the damage was done: Chinese consumers were angry that Samsung treated them differently.
A Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, pictured after its battery exploded. (Picture: AFP)
A Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, pictured after its battery exploded. (Picture: AFP)
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“This is an issue of deception,” one Galaxy Note 7 owner told the New York Times. “They are cheating Chinese consumers.”

But even before the first Note 7 battery exploded, Samsung’s sales were already falling in China. The company’s fall appears to be down to their competition as much as their own missteps.

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