Samsung Electronics announced that it plans to sell a share of the remaining Samsung Galaxy Note 7 devices still left in the company’s warehouses. The handsets will sell in emerging markets with a smaller battery pending approval of authorities and carriers.
The South Korean giant was estimated to lose as much as $5 billion globally due to the forced recall of over 4 million units. The firm also plans to recycle valuable components of the phones in association with third party experts.
Environmental concerns were cited to be behind Samsung’s reasoning when announcing this plan, given that straight out disposing of millions of Galaxy Note 7 devices would have had a harmful ecological impact.
The Note 7 will return but not to the United States
Samsung’s iconic flagship was on route to become the new king of Android phones upon launch late last year. However, a flaw in their batteries killed the phone just when everybody was loving it.
Faulty batteries on Galaxy Note 7 smartphones infamously caused explosions and caught on fire, representing a major safety hazard for users around the world.
Now, in spite of all the PR heat the firm got due to the explosive handsets, Samsung is planning to release at least over 2 million devices in select markets, according to local demand and regulation from authorities.
These Samsung Galaxy Note 7 units would be refurbished to appear just as new, and many of them will most likely be sold without ever having been used. They will pack a smaller, safe battery that is not prone to any incidents.
Will 4.3 Million @SamsungMobile Galaxy Note 7 Phones End up in the Trash? https://t.co/yGmcn0vW8l pic.twitter.com/kdPIqEzN3i
— Greenpeace USA (@greenpeaceusa) November 1, 2016
Greenpeace takes credit for Samsung’s newly announced plan, given they protested the company’s presentation at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month with banners calling for the recycling of these devices.
Unrecalled Note 7s will soon die, literally
The Note 7’s comeback will only apply to these certified units shipped by Samsung. Anyone else still holding to their original flagship will end up with an expensive brick thanks to an update that renders the charging function useless.
This software update first rolled out in December in the U.S. and it is scheduled to hit South Korea in the coming weeks, and it is probably because people are keeping their Note 7s in spite of the major danger they pose to themselves and anyone near them.
Samsung’s announcement comes just two days before they unveil their next flagship, the Samsung Galaxy 8, at an exclusive New York event on Wednesday, March 29.
Source: Samsung
