In about one month, the Galaxy Note 7 has gone from an iPhone rival to a thing of the past.
Less than 24 hours after Samsung urged retailers to stop selling its latest flagship, it has now announced it halting it altogether. ”For the benefit of consumers’ safety, we stopped sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7 and have consequently decided to stop production,” the company tells Quartz in an official statement. A spokesperson adds that the suspension will be permanent.
The announcement follows an anonymously-sourced report from the Korean Yonhap Daily published yesterday, alleging a halt was imminent. At the time of that piece’s publication, Samsung responded saying it was “temporarily adjusting” the Galaxy Note 7’s production schedule, but didn’t refer to a full stop.
Shares in Samsung Electronics closed at 1,545,000 won ($1,379.69) at the Korea Exchange’s close today (Oct. 11), marking an 8.9% drop from the previous day’s close. Given that Samsung’s confirmation came after trading ended, its share price will likely plunge further tomorrow.
It remains to be seen what sort of lasting damage the Note 7 affair will do to Samsung. Even as bad news about the exploding phones has trickled out, the company’s share price has hit three all-time highs since August, as investors placed their bets on robust sales for hardware components it makes for other hardware makers—particularly OLED screens and NAND flash memory. If the smartphone division’s sales and profits now founder, Samsung’s other business units will have to compensate. Analysts will be closely watching the company’s third-quarter earnings results on October 27.