Samsung Does Not Slow Down Devices, SK Tech Firm Denies Allegations Of ‘Planned Obsolescence’
On Friday, January 19, Samsung Electronics issued an official statement involving the Italian Authority for Market and Competition’s allegations of planned obsolescence. According to the South Korean tech firm, they do not engage in any practice that intentionally slows down older devices. They also promised to cooperate with the investigation.
Apple has been under fire for deliberately rolling out software updates which can impair the speed of older devices, thereby forcing iPhone owners to upgrade. As it turned out, iPhone owners just had to replace the battery of their phone, not the entire handset. To apologize for this, Apple will start offering battery replacements for $29 instead of $79. After Apple’s admission, the company has been under fire by various institutions for their practice.
On Thursday, the Italian Authority for Market and Competition accused Apple of “planned obsolescence.” However, Silicon Valley Tech firm was not the only smartphone firm mentioned by the government agency. Samsung was equally accused of engaging in the same strategy to force more people to scrap their old device and purchase a new one.
As mentioned above, this is the first incident where Samsung was accused of slowing down their devices. In a statement, Samsung denied all allegations.
“Samsung does not provide the software updates to reduce the product performance over the life cycle of the device. We will fully cooperate with Italian Authority for Market and Competition’s investigation in Italy to clarify the facts.”
While Samsung was quick to provide clarification about this incident, Nikkei Asian Review noted that this might affect the unveiling of the South Korean firm’s latest flagship phone. Samsung representatives will head off to Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress in a month’s time. However, this issue might affect the launching of the Galaxy S9.
A new Galaxy? You must’ve been nice this year. Now see how easy it is to transfer and backup all your stuff with Smart Switch and @GoogleDrive. https://t.co/92TiibD4MR pic.twitter.com/P3x8hmbxFm
— Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) December 26, 2017
Needless to say, the public is still excited over the next smartphone from Samsung due to its innovative features. Samsung makes significant amounts of profit from its smartphone division. Samsung suffered losses after they recalled the Galaxy Note 7, but they made up for it by launching better smartphones. Despite the incident, Samsung remained to be a trusted brand and it continues to be a leader in innovation.
As for other products in the pipeline, reports suggest Samsung is also working on creating a commercial foldable phone. Samsung reportedly unveiled a prototype of its foldable phone during the 2018 CES held in Las Vegas earlier this month.
