The exchange program that Samsung put in place to allow customers to switch to another device or get their Galaxy Note 7 replaced with a new one has yet to prove its effectiveness since the bulk of the new phones won’t arrive until next week.
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The MTA wants riders and employees to avoid using Samsung Galaxy Note 7 cell phones, which have been implicated in fiery battery explosions, in stations or on buses and trains. (It’d been widely reported, but not confirmed, that Samsung SDI made the batteries in units which have been catching fire.) It’s still possible that’s the case; the “testing scheme” units may have been earlier handsets with a different battery, although we’re speculating here.
The company has announced it will recall about 2.5 million smartphones of this model, with customers receiving temporary replacement phones provided by the firm until it releases new Note 7s.
Samsung Electronics, which is getting users of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone to return them because of its fire-prone batteries, says it will update software in South Korea to limit their charge to 60%.
It would prevent the phones from overheating, and thus exploding, but would effectively mean a downgrade of the high-end device – and therefore an incentive to turn it in.
The newspaper ad said that the move “prioritizes consumer safety but we apologize for the inconvenience”.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall saga continues.
Will Samsung extend the update to the US? In the U.S., the electronics giant is working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to figure out how the mass recall of the Note 7 is going to work.
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The debacle dealt a major blow to the firm’s reputation and will likely hurt profits at a time when it faces a growing challenge from Apple’s iPhone in the high-end market and Chinese rivals in the low-end segment.
