Samsung apologises to Chinese consumers

Samsung Electronics has apologised to Chinese consumers after a report carried on China's state TV claimed some of its phones were malfunctioning.

The report alleged the phones were crashing due to faulty memory chips and criticised its repair policies.

Samsung, which generates nearly 14% of its overall revenue from China. said it would provide free repairs for the seven models mentioned in the report.

Samsung is the latest foreign firm to be criticised in the Chinese media.

The South Korean firm said in statement that it "sincerely apologises" to Chinese consumers for inconveniences caused by the company's "management problems" and that it welcomed the media scrutiny.

The models mentioned in the China Central Television (CCTV) report, which was aired earlier this week, include the Galaxy S3 and the Note2 phones.

Growing scrutiny

China is the world's second largest economy and the most populous country,

The combination of a growing economy, rising income levels and a large consumer base has made it a key market for leading global firms.

However, as foreign companies continue to grow their business in China, they have come under increased scrutiny.

Earlier this week, a separate report on CCTV claimed that Starbucks, the world's largest coffee chain, was charging higher prices in China than in other major markets.

It alleged that Starbucks earned higher margins in China due to its pricing.

In April, Apple's chief executive Tim Cook apologised to Chinese consumers following two weeks of criticism by state-owned media over its repair and warranty policies,

The media accused the firm of arrogance, greed and of "throwing its weight around".

Taiwan trouble

In a separate development, Samsung was fined 10m Taiwanese dollars ($340,000; £210,000) by Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission.

The fine came after an inquiry by the commission into reports that Samsung paid people in Taiwan to criticise rival HTC online.

HTC phone

Bad reviews of HTC products were allegedly posted by students paid by Samsung

The commission alleged that Samsung had hired the services of an advertising firm, OpenTide Taiwan, to help it with online marketing.

Sun Lih-Chyun, vice chairperson and spokesman, told Cindy Sui in Taipei that its investigations had indicated that OpenTide had hired students and bloggers to post remarks about Samsung and also criticise HTC products.

He added that OpenTide gave weekly and monthly reports to Samsung, on online remarks, which indicated that Samsung was fully aware of what was going on.

OpenTide was also fined 3m Taiwanese dollars by the commission for its role.

The allegations had first come to light in April this year.

At that time, Samsung had called the incidents "unfortunate" and said they had gone against the company's "fundamental principles".

In early 2013, Samsung was fined by Taiwanese authorities for an advert that misled consumers about the camera on the Galaxy Y Duo.