Can Anything Go Right for Samsung in 2017?

Currently Apple’s biggest rival in the tech game at the moment, Samsung, has been going through some pretty turbulent times, that just seem to keep getting more and more rocky as the months go by. For the South Korean company, 2016 was truly a year of setbacks on a number of fronts. Anyone who owned a smartphone knew about the global recall of their latest phone, the Note 7, due to batteries exploding at seemingly random times. To make matters worse, users were complaining of phone explosions even after recalls occurred, leading to airlines banning the phones on flights and a near $9 billion decrease in their total market cap, one of the largest ever reported in history. Not to mention, on a much less detrimental scale, there was the November recall of many of their washing machines due to such vigorous vibrations that they posed a great risk of falling over. This washing machine mishap seemed to be the icing on the public relations shit cake for Samsung, but it gets worse from there. Now to ring in the new year, things don’t seem to be getting any better for the tech giant, as their CEO, Jay Y. Lee, is currently under investigation for bribery in regards to a presidential scandal within the country of South Korea.

Luckily for Lee, prosecutors did not find enough evidence for arrest or detention, but according to reports done by NPR, prosecutors are conducting a special investigation that claims Lee provided over $36 million of Samsung’s funds to make sure he and other board members had large influence in government decision making. With Samsung releasing the Galaxy S8, Galaxy Note 8, and a brand new QLED TV all in 2017, do you think Samsung can shake the bad press in time to do big numbers at the shelves? Let’s just hope this gorgeous 65 inch QLED television won’t explode on us too.