The executives of Samsung pleaded in front of dealers in a dealers' meeting held in Shijiazhuang to apologize for the company's battery scandal.
The dealers' meeting was held among executives of the Korean smartphone manufacturer and domestic retailers in China, who experienced losses due to the distribution of defective units of the Galaxy Note 7.
Kneeling was a sign of respect from South Korea and according to Samsung's PR representative, the gesture was to show gratitude to Chinese distributors who still sold units of the Note 7 even after the recall.
China was initially not included in the global recall because the manufacturer said that the supplier for the batteries of the units in the mainland was different from the U.S. and Europe.
"Through such sincerity and honesty, Samsung expects to maintain a partnership with us and ask us to continue selling their phones," said a Chinese dealer. "Distributors' faith in Samsung has been dampened recently, as they were concerned that the battery scandal would further weaken Samsung's brand in the country's fiercely competitive smartphone battleground."
A report was released by Counterpoint Technology Market Research that revealed Samsung's losses in China after the recall. The Korean manufacturer was removed from the top three smartphone sellers in the country.
Samsung experienced the lowest sales in eight years. Their global sales fell to $86.7 billion year-on-year.
Mark Natkin, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, an advisory company based in Beijing said. "Foreign companies who appear to employ any less favorable policy for China can quickly find themselves waist-deep in a P.R. quagmire."
He added, "Those who find themselves most successful are companies that have understood that they cannot win every battle, and sometimes, to maintain a happy relationship, it's better just to say: I'm sorry. Iove you,"