Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 debacle is great news for Apple, according to one prominent industry analyst.
Ming-Chi Kuo, a respected Apple analyst at KGI Securities, believes that between 5 million and 7 million lost Note 7 orders will become iPhone 7 sales instead. And the majority of these new orders will go to the iPhone 7 Plus thanks to its unique dual-camera configuration, apparently. That’s according to an investor note penned by Kuo and revealed by 9to5mac. Today’s report notes:
“KGI says Note 7 users will have lost faith in the Samsung brand and have a tendency to like iOS and camera features, making the new iPhone an attractive sale.”
Kuo says that Apple will snag around 50% of the ex-Note 7 customers (estimated to number around 12 million in total), while the rest will be shared out among prominent Android manufacturers such as Huawei. It’s also expected that a number of Note 7 customers will jump ship to Google’s new smartphones – particularly the Google Pixel XL, which is the larger of the two models the search giant is releasing.
Could Disenfranchised Note 7 owners flock to Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus?
Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 7 on 2 August, with the handset arriving to critical acclaim from reviewers who praised the impressive hardware, software and design. But exactly one month later, Samsung issued a global recall for the new phone after an internal investigation uncovered a serious battery flaw that was causing some users’ handsets to spontaneously catch fire.
Samsung is still trying to deal with the fiery Note 7 fiasco, with engineers reportedly struggling to pinpoint why even “fixed” handsets appear to be catching fire. As a result of the latest fires, Samsung has vowed to stop manufacturing and selling the handset, and is urging all Note 7 customers to turn off their phones indefinitely.
Related: Samsung Galaxy S8
Watch: Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review (pre-recall)
What’s your favourite alternative to the Galaxy Note 7? Let us know your choice (and why) in the comments below.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.