Samsung suffers worst sales decline ever after Galaxy Note 7 debacle

Samsung's smartphone business has suffered its worst sales decline ever in the wake of the faulty Galaxy Note 7 fiasco.

Issues with the flagship smartphone came to light just two weeks after the Galaxy Note 7 launched, following several cases of devices catching fire. After reports emerged that replacement devices were also catching fire, Samsung officially ceased production in October.

According to Gartner, Samsung's global sales were down 14.2 percent to 71,733,500 in the third quarter ending in November 2016. At the same time, overall sales from all vendors grew by 5.4 percent.

Samsung managed to hang onto its lead as the world's largest smartphone vendor with 19.2 percent market share, although it lost 4.4 percent of that share from the same quarter last year.

Apple maintained second place with 11.5 percent market share, followed by Huawei with 8.7 percent and Oppo with 6.7 percent.

Gartner research director Anshul Gupta said that Samsung had a strong start to the quarter, but the Galaxy Note 7's battery issue severely hampered sales.

"The decision to withdraw the Galaxy Note 7 was correct, but the damage to Samsung's brand will make it harder for the company to increase its smartphone sales in the short term," he said.

"For Samsung, it's crucial that the Galaxy S8 launches successfully, so that partners and customers regain trust in its brand."

Global smartphone sales to end users by vendor in Q3 2016 (thousands of units)