三星召回事件爲蘋果獻大禮
By Apple’s own high standards, the hype surrounding Wednesday’s iPhone launch was looking more subdued than usual.
按照蘋果(Apple)自身的高標準，圍繞週三iPhone發佈會的輿論熱度似乎比以往要低。
The company had just been hit by a Euro13bn tax bill by the European Commission.
這家公司剛遭受歐盟委員會(European Commission) 130億歐元稅務罰單打擊。
On top of that setback, for the first time since the device made its debut in 2007, sales of the iPhone are in decline.
除了這一挫折，iPhone銷量自2007年問世以來首次滑坡。
Supply-chain leaks point to a less radical redesign of the current model than Apple customers have come to expect every two years.
供應鏈流出的消息顯示iPhone新機型在設計上沒有太多重大改變，不及蘋果客戶每隔兩年的期待。
Then on Friday Samsung handed its arch-rival an unexpected gift: one of the most costly product recalls the tech industry has ever seen.
而上週五，韓國電子製造商三星(Samsung)給自己的主要競爭對手送上一份意外大禮——高科技產業有史以來最昂貴的產品召回之一。
Samsung is replacing all 2.5m units that it has shipped of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone just weeks after its release, due to a spate of exploding batteries.
由於接連發生電池爆炸事件，三星將前幾周前剛發貨的250萬部Galaxy Note 7智能手機悉數召回。
Just when the Korean electronics manufacturer was regaining momentum in the sluggish smartphone market, the sweeping recall resets Samsung’s attempt to head off Apple’s annual launch.
三星剛剛在低迷的智能手機市場重獲動力，此番大規模召回讓它搶在蘋果年度發佈會前頭髮布新品的努力回到原點。
The timing is as bad for Samsung as it is positive for Apple, said Geoff Blaber, analyst at CCS Insight.
CCS Insight的分析師傑夫•布拉波(Geoff Blaber)表示：這一時機對三星起到的負面作用，與對蘋果的正面作用相當。
If consumers are facing a lengthy wait, it undoubtedly opens the door for its closest rival.
如果消費者要面臨漫長的等待，無疑會爲最接近的競爭者帶來機會。
Samsung has said it will take just two weeks to manufacture replacement phones for customers, which could leave just enough time for Apple to bring its new iPhones to market first.
三星表示只用兩週就會爲客戶製造出替換手機，這使得蘋果可以恰好先一步向市場推出新iPhone。
In the meantime, some mobile operators, including T-Mobile in the US, have said they will offer full refunds to Note buyers, leaving many with spare cash to spend on an iPhone if they feel they can no longer trust Samsung.
此外，包括美國T-Mobile在內的部分移動運營商表示將向購買了三星Note 7的消費者提供全額退款，這讓許多消費者有閒錢購買iPhone——如果他們覺得無法再信任三星的話。
The pressure is definitely on Samsung.
布拉波表示：三星無疑承受着壓力。
It’s a huge amount of inventory that it needs to rebuild, Mr Blaber said.
它需要重建龐大的庫存量。
Until this incident, Samsung had been winning plaudits for its bold moves with the Galaxy S7 and latest Note 7 handsets.
在此事件之前，三星以圍繞Galaxy S7和最新發布的Note 7手機的大膽舉措贏得喝彩。
After its smartphones had struggled against soaring sales of the iPhone 6 in 2014 and 2015, Samsung has regained market share in 2016 thanks to its S7 Edge’s curved screen and strong battery performance, two areas where Apple is seen as lagging behind its rival.
2014年到2015年iPhone 6銷量飆升，三星智能手機陷入困境。隨後在2016年，三星憑藉S7 Edge的曲面屏和強大的電池表現——外界認爲蘋果在這兩個領域落後其競爭對手——重奪市場份額。
Following its mid-August debut, Samsung had sold 1m Notes before the recall.
自8月中旬上市到此次召回前，三星Note 7已賣出1百萬部。
There’s no doubt in my mind that the timing of the Note launch was intended to pre-empt Apple’s announcement, said Jan dawson, tech analyst at Jackdaw Research.
Jackdaw Research科技業分析師簡•道森(Jan Dawson)表示：我認爲Note的發佈時機毫無疑問是爲了搶在蘋果新品發佈前頭。
Arguably, it worked well for Samsung at first — the Note 7 has been one of Samsung’s best-reviewed phones ever and it seems to have got off to a great start sales-wise as well.
可以說，這一策略一開始對三星效果很好，Note 7是三星有史以來評價最高的手機之一，而且銷量情況似乎也開了個好頭。
Mr Dawson praised Samsung for its swift reaction to the exploding battery problem.
道森稱讚了三星對電池爆炸問題作出的迅速反應。
Nonetheless, at the exact moment when the iPhone 7 arrives, it will be impossible to buy Samsung’s latest product.
但是恰恰在iPhone 7上市的那個時候，消費者將不可能買到三星的最新產品。
That’s a significant black eye for Samsung, which will not only have to cover the cost of the recall but also lose several critical weeks of sales as well, Mr Dawson said.
道森說：這對三星來說是一個重大恥辱，它不僅要承擔召回成本，還失去了關鍵當口的數週銷量。
That could mean losing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of sales and customers to its arch-rival.
這可能意味着數十萬、甚至可能數百萬的銷量和消費者流失到其主要競爭對手那裏。
Even without product malfunctions, eking out growth in the smartphone market is tough enough at the moment.
即使不出現產品故障，要在當前智能手機市場維持增長已經十分艱難。
Analysts at IDC last week projected just a 1.6 per cent rise in global unit sales this year, down from 2015’s 10.4 per cent increase.
IDC分析師上週預計，今年全球智能手機銷量將僅增長1.6%，2015年該數字爲10.4%。
Despite the iPhone 7’s anticipated new dual-lens camera and wireless headphones, Wall Street analysts had forecast that is the product’s current quarterly sales declines were unlikely to be reversed until next year.
儘管iPhone 7新的雙鏡頭和無線耳機受到期待，但華爾街分析師預測在明年之前，iPhone當前的季度銷售下降趨勢不大可能逆轉。
The dynamics in Apple’s largest user bases, being China and the US, have fundamentally changed, said Ben Bajarin, tech analyst at Creative Strategies.
Creative Strategies分析師本•巴加林(Ben Bajarin)表示：蘋果最大的用戶羣在中國和美國，這些用戶的動態已經有了根本變化。
Apple is not really losing customers; people are just hanging on to their phones for longer.
蘋果並沒有真的流失客戶，人們不過是降低了更換手機的頻率。
Wall Street consensus forecasts are for iPhone unit sales to fall at least 8 per cent in the current quarter ending in September, which is likely to include at least a week of new product availability, to around about 44m units.
華爾街共識性的預測是，在截至9月底的當前季度（包括蘋果新品上市後的至少一週），iPhone銷量至少會降低8%，降至大約4400萬部。
Sales in the all-important December quarter are expected to be at best flat, at about 74m compared with 74.8m a year earlier, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
FactSet的調查顯示，在包含至關重要的12月的那個季度，銷量充其量有望與去年同期持平，達到大約7400萬部，去年同期的這個數字是7480萬部。
Fuelling the near-term iPhone pessimism is the sense that the really big upgrades for the iPhone are coming in 2017, when the product celebrates its tenth anniversary — including a Note 7-style curved screen.
就近期而言，令人們對iPhone悲觀的是這一判斷：在2017年，iPhone慶祝問世十週年時，iPhone將迎來真正重大的升級，其中包括採用三星Galaxy Note 7那種曲面屏。
This year, we are not hearing any killer applications, said Abhey Lamba of Mizuho Securities.
今年，我們沒聽說有任何令人難以抗拒的新特性。
It’s hard to have a good gauge of demand right now.
瑞穗證券(Mizuho Securities)的阿巴伊•蘭巴(Abhey Lamba)說，目前很難對需求做出準確的判斷。
However, Samsung’s mis-step could make the difference between growth and decline for the iPhone in the coming months.
然而，未來幾個月裏，三星的失誤可能對iPhone是會增長還是會萎縮產生影響。
Mr Blaber said the recall could move the needle for Apple very slightly, albeit at most a couple of million units.
布拉波表示，三星召回事件可能會讓蘋果的銷量稍微增加一點點，儘管充其量會增加200萬部。
Apple’s iPhone Plus is the natural alternative to the Note 7 in that price tier, Mr Blaber said.
蘋果的iPhone Plus是同一價位上Galaxy Note 7的天然替代品。
It is beholden on Apple that they can really get as much stock [on to the market] as fast as they can.
布拉波說，蘋果必須確保自己能真正儘快（向市場）供應儘可能多的貨。
Assuming they can do that, they stand to do very well out of Samsung’s misfortune.
假設蘋果能做到這一點，他們肯定將從三星的不幸遭遇中獲益極多。
