Entirely aside from the merits of the individual new phones, Samsung torpedoed their own boat with how they handled the rash of fires with their last flagship phones - first pretending it didn’t work, then initially demanding that phone owners hold them harmless and sign an NDA to get a replacement phone, then having the ‘fixed’ phones go on fire and Samsung again initially demanding people sign a quitclaim and an NDA to get a replacement phone yet again. Talk about tone deaf.
The best part was that the first batteries were defective units from a Chinese manufacturer... fine, it happens. Then the replacement batteries were manufactured in house ***by Samsung*** and they turned out to be even worse.
No wonder nobody wants a Note 8.
I think the Note 8 has been selling okay in the US — of course, not taking on new market share has been a problem. But, Apple and Samsung are, in order, the most profitable mobile phone lines (with most of the profits accruing to Apple).