Google is perfectly poised to claim Samsung's Android crown, as long as it doesn't blow it

The technology industry is somewhat of an echo chamber. Companies make big claims about their new product and technology blogs repeat and amplify those boasts to make the news seem more important than it really is. For the vast majority of people however, the launch of a new phone, tablet, smart watch or tablet (unless it is an Apple product) is barely a ripple on their radar.

Therefore it always a significant event when a technology company is front and centre of reports in the mainstream media — and rarely is it a positive thing.

For Samsung, the impact of the blanket coverage of its decision to end production of the Galaxy Note 7 completely is nothing short of catastrophic. On Tuesday, the company confirmed that the "safe" versions of the phone – which it distributed to those who sent back the original version – were also faulty and it decided to discontinue a phone launched just two months ago.

Make no mistake, this is a decision made after every single other possible solution had been posited. Not only does this mean the end of the Galaxy Note 7, it means the end of the Galaxy Note range full stop. Samsung said that up to 95% of people were replacing the faulty Note 7s with "safe" Note 7s which the company was spinning as an indication of customer loyalty.

But who is going to buy the Note 8 now? Samsung will undoubtedly continue to sell a large screen version of its flagship smartphone under the different name (Galaxy Fire? Galaxy Blast? Galaxy Boom?) but the Note series, which created the phablet trend which even Apple has followed in recent years with its iPhone Plus series is dead.

And for Samsung the fallout is going to be disastrous.

"This is devastating for Samsung in both the short and long-term," Ben Thompson, mobile analyst said. "In the short-term, not only will the company's costs go up as they recall more phones — including in China and Hong Kong, which the company originally said were fine because they came with ATL batteries — but now the company will forego all revenue from the Note 7."

Even worse for Samsung will be the impact on the general public who are seeing and hearing horror headlines about Samsung smartphones randomly exploding. While the tech savvy consumers will know the difference between a 'Galaxy Note' and a regular 'Galaxy' smartphone, for most people this is just a Samsung phone exploding so the entire brand is tarnished, not just one line.

"Some number may never buy a device for a good long while; worse, nearly everyone will have a subconscious association with unreliability and outright danger," Thompson said.

Samsung's decision to permanently halt production of the Galaxy Note 7 has seen its shares plummet over 7 percent, wiping $17bn off the company's value. But this is just the short term impact and the longer term hit the world's biggest smartphone maker will take could be fatal.

For the last two years Samsung has been threading water in the smartphone market, retaining its position as the biggest seller of smartphones in the world, seeing margins narrow and profits disappear. This year had been all about turning things around with the success of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, and early positive reviews and sales figures for the Note 7. The future was bright. Now, it's foggy at best.

The question now is if those loyal customers Samsung spoke of will look elsewhere for a replacement Note 7 smartphone, and begin a major shift away from the South Korean company which has dominated the smartphone market for almost a decade.

The company best positioned to benefit from Samsung's fall is Google, thanks mainly to pure luck.

A week ago, Google launched two new smartphones, but the reaction to the Pixel and Pixel XL was somewhat lukewarm. This was partly down to the fact that details of the phones had been known for some time thanks to multiple leaks, but also because those within the industry didn't really think the phones would have any major impact on the smartphone market.

Now things are very different. There is a void to be filled and Google's Pixel XL is perfectly poised to fill it. The phone is a premium device with a large screen and while it may lack the stylus and curved screen of the Galaxy Note it does have its own unique features including Google Assistant, a class leading camera and unlimited photo backup.

Google looks set to be willing to back its new phones with sufficient marketing money to make sure people are aware of their existence and while they are limited to exclusive deals with EE in the UK and Verizon in the US, they are also available through Google's own online store and on the high street through the likes of Carphone Warehouse.

Apple's iPhone 7 Plus will also gain, but to a lesser extent, as those choosing the Note 7 had already made the decision not to buy Apple's new big screen iPhone and so are looking for something different and while Huawei and LG both have options in this areas, the "newness" of Google's Pixel smartphone and its eye-catching new features mean Google's big smartphone launch could just have got the boost it needs to succeed.