More Bad News for Samsung – Galaxy Note 7 Users Are Jumping Ship for Apple’s iPhone

Samsung’s tidal wave of bad luck (and equally bad publicity), in relation to the company’s Galaxy Note 7 battery explosion manifesto, is actually turning out to be a much more far-reaching set back than many analysts previously predicted it would be. Not only is Sammy now required to replace the plethora of faulty launch units that beset many customers, but, as it turns out, the sheer timing of perhaps the biggest smartphone recall in modern history is playing out to be of great benefit to Samsung’s arch rivals.

Just in case you haven’t been following the news lately: Samsung is currently flirting with a major, multi-billion dollar device recall, due primarily to the spontaneously exploding batteries employed in its recent Galaxy Note 7 flagship. What’s more, while the South Korean company has encouraged early Galaxy Note 7 adopters to return their devices — whether they’re faulty or not, the company has largely struggled to deliver on its promises of replenishing stock of new, problem-free units — you know, ones that aren’t ticking time bombs and what not.

Anyways, according to consumer responses garnered in a recent SurveyMonkey poll of 507 Galaxy Note 7 owners, approximately 26% of them indicated that they planned to return their defective Note 7 handsets, using the funds to then purchase one of Apple’s iPhones. Alternatively, 21% of respondents expressed intent to exchange their faulty Note 7 for another Samsung model, such as the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge, while a whopping 35% of respondents reported plans to return their faulty Note 7 device for a cash refund, sans the purchase of any new hardware.

Most surprising of all, however, only about 18% of those surveyed indicated that they would stick around and wait for a new Galaxy Note 7 replacement, perhaps due to the sheer amount of time its taking the company to make good on its promise.

Samsung, however, recently conducted its own poll of Galaxy Note 7 user intentions, which provides a bit more optimism than the SurveyMonkey report did. The South Korean tech-giant’s data, for instance, reveals that approximately 90% of Galaxy Note 7 owners plan to exchange their device for a rectified Note 7, while approximately 60% of the units sold in the U.S., according to Samsung, have so far been exchanged for a new Note 7 — ever since they became “widely available,” whenever that happened…

I guess I missed the memo..

Just in case you didn’t catch my previous write-up about my own Galaxy Note 7 to iPhone conversion experience: I actually fall into the category of customers who defected from the Note 7 to an iPhone. Personally, I just think the iPhone is a more solid device, all things considered. However, to be fair to Samsung, as I also explained in our exclusive Galaxy Note 7 review, the device, itself, was actually rather nice, and a pleasure to own — at least, for the two weeks that I owned it, prior to burning my hand when picking it up off the charger one morning… Seriously though!

Either way, according to Forbes, Samsung apparently only received 92 reports of malfunctioning batteries in the United States, which is a relatively small percentage of the roughly one million Note 7 units sold here. Yet even Samsung, for its part, admitted that approximately 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7s had to be recalled, worldwide, which will ultimately result in upwards of $5 billion in lost revenue for the company this year.. Yikes!

What do you think about all these Galaxy Note 7 owners deciding to jump ship for Apple’s iPhone?
Let us know in the comments!