Samsung shares tumble on Galaxy Note 7 sales halt

[THE INVESTOR] Shares of Samsung Electronics tumbled on Oct. 11 following the company’s decision to suspend the sales of its latest Galaxy Note 7 smartphone over safety concerns.

The stock price closed at 1,545,000 won (US$1,380), down 8.04 percent or 135,000 won from the previous trading day.

Shares of the phone’s key suppliers were also down. Patron, the camera module maker using iris recognition technologies, and Amotech, the wireless charging module supplier, were especially hit hard by the sales halt.

The latest sales suspension is the second of its kind since Samsung issued a recall of the bigger-screen Note phone in September due to faulty batteries that caught fire while charging. But more recently there have been several reports of fire and explosions even in replacement phones with a new battery.

Industry watchers say it is unlikely for the phone’s sales to be resumed considering the worsening consumer sentiment about the Note brand. Samsung is said to be beefing up the production of Galaxy S7 and other budget phones to cover up the losses in the coming months.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)