South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co was criticized by a broadcaster of China's CCTV has for alleged "discrimination" against Chinese consumers in the handling of the global recall of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones to replace batteries, according to an article by technologynewschina.com.
A commentary posted on CCTV's website on Thursday, Sept. 29, the network said that the South Korean company's behavior in China was "full of arrogance," after 2.5 million phones were recalled on Sept.2.
According to CCTV, Samsung issued a video apology to U.S. consumers, including replacement options and compensation, while Chinese consumers were issued a short statement which said that most of the phones did not have to be replaced.
"Samsung's discriminatory policy has caused discontent from Chinese consumers," CCTV claimed.
Samsung China did not respond or comment on the CCTV criticism.
For Samsung, the criticism may disrupt its attempt to strengthen its position in China, the world's largest smartphone market. Samsung was once the top mobile phone seller in the country but in 2015, it dropped out of the top five as local brands such as Xiaomi, Huawei and Oppo grew.
In recent years, the country's influential broadcaster has lambasted several popular global consumer brands, from German automaker Volkswagen to Samsung rival Apple Inc, which drove them to strive to strengthen their image.
Earlier in September, Samsung China held a meeting with the country's quality safety watchdog, after which it issued a brief statement, saying that 1,858 Note 7 devices sold in the country would be recalled and it was only part of a test scheme before the official launch.
According to Samsung, most Note 7s sold in China are not part of the 2.5 million phones covered by the global recall as announced on Sept. 2 and their batteries came from a different supplier.
Samsung China however released a statement on Thursday, Sept. 29, apologizing to Chinese consumers for "lack of sufficient explanation" after some Note 7s in the mainland have reportedly caught fire.