Honesty is the best policy

At last, Samsung announced on Tuesday that it was recalling all of the more than 190,000 Galaxy Note 7 smartphones sold in the Chinese mainland, and was bringing a total halt to the production of the device because of instances of the battery exploding.

It is yet to be seen whether the overdue move will help the South Korean electronics company recover its damaged reputation among Chinese consumers and regain its position in the smartphone market. The company's stock price plummeted sharply after its announcement, the biggest drop in a single day since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Samsung provoked anger among Chinese consumers after it excluded China from its international recall of the phones, claiming that models sold in the Chinese market used batteries from a different supplier. It even said that it was being framed by its Chinese competitor Huawei. However, several subsequent instances of its phones catching fire further dragged Samsung into the vortex of public controversy.