三星終於停售Note 7智能手機
Samsung’s ambitions to rival Apple in the smartphone market suffered a deep setback after a series of fires in its flagship Galaxy Note 7 forced the South Korean giant to abandon the model in one of the most ignominious chapters in consumer electronics.
三星(Samsung)在智能手機市場叫板蘋果(Apple)的雄心遭到一個嚴重挫折，其旗艦手機Galaxy Note 7發生的一系列起火事故迫使這家韓國巨擘放棄這一型號，這件事已成爲消費電子產品史上最不光彩的篇章之一。
More than $19bn was wiped off the company’s market value amid growing fears that the safety issues around the Note 7 could damage the group’s reputation and have an impact on the group’s other consumer products.
該公司的市值已蒸發了逾190億美元，市場越來越擔心，圍繞Note 7的安全問題可能損害該集團的聲譽，並對該集團的其他消費產品產生衝擊。
There have already been some signs of contagion, with a slowdown in S7 sales this week, according to one network, which cautioned that it was too early to tell if there had been sustained damage to the Samsung brand.
已經有一些蔓延跡象。一家網絡運營商稱，本週S7銷售放緩，它告誡稱，現在要判斷三星品牌是否已受到持久損害還爲時過早。
“Samsung’s credibility is on the line,” said Bryan Ma, analyst at IDC. “Samsung needs to make sure that consumers can trust its brand or else other products [and future products] are at risk.”
“三星的可信度岌岌可危，”IDC分析師Bryan Ma表示。“三星需要確保消費者能夠信任其品牌，否則其他產品乃至未來產品將面臨風險。”
The decision to scrap the line, once viewed as an “iPhone killer”, came after the company was forced to make a second recall of the smartphone as photos of the devices ablaze shot across social media worldwide.
決定放棄這款一度被視爲“iPhone殺手”的手機之前，該公司被迫對其進行第二次召回，因爲這款手機起火燃燒的照片在世界各地社交媒體上熱傳。
Samsung thought it had solved the battery fire problems last month after US regulators ordered the first recall following 92 reports of batteries overheating. But the incidents continued, putting intense pressure on the group. After initially scaling back production earlier this week, it finally took the unprecedented step to kill it off.
三星上月以爲它已經解決了電池起火問題，此前美國監管機構在接到92份電池過熱報告後下令其進行第一次召回。但起火事件仍接二連三發生，給該集團帶來巨大壓力。本週早些時候宣佈縮減生產後，它終於採取了前所未有的淘汰舉措。
According to one person who has spoken to Samsung executives, problems with the phone appeared to have arisen from tweaks to the processor to speed up the rate at which the phone could be charged. That would suggest it was not an issue with the battery itself, as Samsung initially speculated, or the design of the phone, but with the underlying technology.
曾與三星高管交談的一名人士稱，這款手機的問題似乎源自對處理器進行的調整，其目的是加快手機充電速度。如果是這樣的話，問題就不是像三星最初推測的那樣在於電池，也不是手機的設計，而是在於基礎技術。
“If you try to charge the battery too quickly it can make it more volatile. If you push an engine too hard, it will explode. Something had to give. These devices are miracles of technology — how much we can get out of that tiny piece of lithium-ion,” the person told the Financial Times.
“如果您嘗試對電池太快充電，可能會使其更加不穩定。如果你把一臺發動機用過頭，它會爆炸。有得就會有失。這些裝置是技術奇蹟——我們能夠從這麼一點點鋰離子獲得這麼大電量，”上述人士對英國《金融時報》表示。
Samsung was not available for comment, but insiders had previously said it would not comment before a thorough investigation had been conducted.
記者聯繫不上三星請其置評，但內部人士曾表示，該公司在進行徹底調查之前不會表態。
Shares in the South Korean company fell 8 per cent — their biggest percentage decline since October 2008 — as analysts warned that damage from the recall fiasco was likely to hit Samsung’s reputation as well as sales in coming months. That could be a boon to rivals such as Apple and Google, just as their new devices hit the market ahead of the crucial holiday sales season.
這家韓國公司股價下跌8%，這是自2008年10月以來的最大百分比跌幅。分析師們警告稱，召回失敗的損害很可能會打擊三星的聲譽以及未來幾個月的銷售。這對蘋果和谷歌(Google)等競爭對手可能是一個利好，因爲他們的新款產品在關鍵的假日銷售季之前進入市場。
