It will definitely harm the company-as-a-brand, though. People following the news who haven't owned a Samsung phone before might well be put off any Samsung dev

It will definitely harm the company-as-a-brand, though. People following the news who haven't owned a Samsung phone before might well be put off any Samsung device, ignoring the distinction between the Note and other lines. If it were only about the phone model, the fallout might be much smaller, but it's now become about Samsung's appalling handling of the problems too.